Neale Richmond (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is customary to welcome a Minister to the House but, for once, I am disappointed to see the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee. That is nothing personal. It is simply because while this legislation is necessary and while I welcome it, it is so utterly bad and disappointing that we have come to this stage that I struggle for once to welcome her. I hope she does not take it personally.

This is emergency legislation of the most base nature. The fact we are even at this stage having to discuss it is a damning indictment of the British political system. It is a reflection on the maturity of the Irish political system and the wider European political system that we are hoping for the best still, with less than 17 days or just over 400 hours to go. I have gone from counting in days to hours. However, unfortunately, we are in the position where we need to plan for the worst. Let us be under no illusion that this emergency legislation is planning for the worst. It is literally about keeping the trains running and keeping the lights on. It is not something that is workable, that is a sunnier upland pasture or that I would ever like anyone to want as a policy direction. Unfortunately, there are those who do want this as a policy direction but, thankfully, they are not in this Chamber.

I welcome the fact this legislation came through the Dáil so swiftly. I would like to address a few points raised by other speakers or which may be raised later. I acknowledge some 30 amendments have been put down by Sinn Féin. I will likely disagree with most of them based on their relevance at this stage or possibly with the policy thereafter, but we will have that discussion in a frank manner on Committee Stage, no doubt, or my colleagues will do so on a sectoral basis. I hope we can move this legislation amendment-free or without contested amendments in order that we can get it in place as quickly as possible.

In terms of the timing, when the European Commission published its no-deal notification in December, it allowed the Government to produce this exhaustive piece of legislation on foot of the European recommendations but also on foot of what is needed. When I say "Government" in this regard, I do not necessarily refer to the Minister of State, the Tánaiste or the Taoiseach but rather to the officials and the diplomats who have worked so terribly hard and so thoroughly.

I have to take issue with a number of the points made by Senator Ned O'Sullivan, although I do not know if he is making them personally. When we look at the European comparisons and say the French and the Dutch have already completed this, in fact, not everything is the same. We hear Fianna Fáil say the Dutch have hired their customs officials but they have not because they are not at that point. Continuing to say that and having the Fianna Fáil finance spokesperson continue to say it, is grossly inappropriate and should be stopped. We will have 429 customs officials in place by 29 March as needed, and a further 171 will come thereafter to allow for a total of 600. We will have the veterinary officials in place. The Dutch and the French have not published legislation in any detail that is comparable with this and they have allowed their European Ministers to act by decree.

If the Senator would like to give the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, or the Tánaiste those powers, I would welcome it. However, I acknowledge that with 49 Deputies out of 158, that probably is not going to happen in the current Dáil, let alone given the Seanad arithmetic. We need to be accurate. The Polish Government has not even produced its legislation yet and it is not available for public consumption. I can go through every single member state, if Senator Ned O'Sullivan would like, and tell him exactly where the no-deal planning and preparation is for each one. Regardless, we have to remember that the member states that will be most impacted by any kind of Brexit, particularly a no-deal Brexit, are Ireland and thereafter the Dutch, the Belgians and the Danes and perhaps the large economies of Germany and France. However, it is completely inappropriate to compare the no-deal preparations of Estonia with Ireland. It is unfair political point-scoring. We talk about political point-scoring and Senator Ned O'Sullivan has rightly asked for-----