Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Given the day that is in it I believe it is important that I should echo the comments made by several Members regarding the Brexit negotiations and where we have moved in recent weeks. Any Brexit is a bad Brexit for Ireland but the deal we managed to hammer out in the past six or eight months represents an important step forward. Yesterday was an important day for us as a State and as a society.

I wish to pay tribute in particular to the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy McEntee, for their diligent work to ensure we got this far with the Brexit talks. It is a draft text but it is a significant draft text. It hits every core point that we looked for. It solves most of those issues. In fact, it solves all those issues. That is important. This was a complicated and important negotiation, probably the most important negotiation since we entered the European Union in 1973. We need to acknowledge that.

It is important that we can, if possible, ensure the House of Commons can work to ensure this text gets passed at some stage. In that sense Sinn Féin has an important role to play. Sinn Féin members are elected to that Parliament and there is a duty and responsibility on them now, on a once-off occasion, do what they need to do to ensure this deal is safe. If they do not, they will erode the entire principle of what we are trying to do.