Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As Senator Feighan has said, it is interesting to note that yesterday in the House of Lords, the British Government suffered a major reverse on an amendment to the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill 2017-19. The Lords quite rightly pointed out the benefits of a customs union after Britain leaves the European Union. The Senator referred to the outcome of the vote, which was carried by 348 to 225.The House of Lords very firmly wants a new arrangement which would enable the United Kingdom to continue participating in a customs union, which is the only sensible solution. It wants a comprehensive deal with the EU which would totally remove any need for borders within this country or in the Irish Sea. Obviously, it would not want to ignore the European Union market, a market of 500 million people, when the UK leaves, so it makes sense from the point of view of protecting jobs, supporting manufacturing and, as I say, removing the need for a border. That new comprehensive UK-EU customs union after Brexit would continue the close relationship which exists within the EU. I believe that what happened yesterday in the House of Lords will force the British Government to rethink its position. Of course we do not know precisely what is being negotiated on the detail of the question of trade. Those negotiations are going on every day in Brussels. However, after the next European Council meeting it would be useful for this House to have a further debate on the matter.

When I was in Britain a few weeks ago as part of my work on the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs, which is chaired by Deputy Michael Healy-Rae and on which Senator Neale Richmond also sits, we found that in meeting all of the groups across the parties there was tremendous good will in respect of the arrangement between Ireland and Britain. It behoves us all to keep up our good contacts with all of our British friends and to support that, because it is having an effect. We found that when we met different committees of both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. That good will is there. Coupled with that, yesterday we had the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, warning that there will be no withdrawal agreement and no transition deal for Britain unless it forms and agrees to some sort of customs partnership. It does not have to be the existing customs union. That can be gotten around with a suitable formula of words. It would be unthinkable for the UK Government to ignore this.