Frank Feighan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Brexit is looming very large and we are coming to the end game. Brexit is bad news for the island of Ireland, the UK and the EU. I was at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool for the last two days and was encouraged to see the party coming out with some sort of position. Yesterday, the party said it would look at a referendum option where no final deal emerges from Parliament. That has to be welcomed by this House. It would absolutely block a no-deal Brexit. I do not know what happened over the last few years, but people are beginning to come out and stand up. I noticed yesterday that 95% of the people at the conference wanted to remain in the EU and felt that Brexit was wrong. I applaud the Labour Party for standing up. I see that Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Labour Party, is due to meet the EU chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, in the next few days, which is also very welcome.

I pay tribute to a friend of mine who is also a very good friend of Ireland, namely, Mr. Stephen Pound, MP for Ealing North and the Labour Party's shadow Minister for Northern Ireland. He was on Twitter and Facebook where he said this was a matter of life or death for the people of Northern Ireland. He knows and cares about it. There are enough people in Westminster from an Irish diaspora background who actually care about us and who are beginning to stand up. We must work together now to ensure Brexit does not happen. It is bad for the Good Friday Agreement and it is bad for the island of Ireland. It is catastrophic for the so-called United Kingdom and the EU.It is catastrophic for the so-called United Kingdom and the EU.