David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

We are wasting our time if there is no such thing as a managed no-deal. I believe that there will not be a no-deal situation but the Government is right to consider it because serious issues are involved. There are the questions of aviation connectivity and road freight connectivity. Michael O'Leary, the chief executive of Ryanair, predicted that flights throughout Europe would stop. While that is unlikely, it is a frightening prospect. A strike in France resulted in a line of lorries 17 miles long, which is what we can look forward to. The landbridge in Britain will be absolutely landmined if that country leaves without a deal.

The common travel area is extremely important, as the Minister of State noted, and I join my colleagues in complimenting her. The attitude of some British politicians has been disgraceful. There was an idea that a second famine could be visited on this country. Have they no shame, no sense of history and no sense of what a humanitarian disaster the Famine was? It is shocking to think about revisiting it. While it is true that we must maintain the common travel area, it predates the EU and, therefore, should be saved for historic reasons. We have had it since 1922 and we cannot possibly go back on it.

There is also the issue of health services. It is obvious that patients in County Donegal, for example, need to go to hospital in County Derry rather than coming all the way round, hour after hour, in an ambulance to Dublin. Of course we must keep these ideas. Old age pensions, illness benefit and child benefit must immediately be put on track because people on the margins depend on these services and if their payments are held up, they will be in real trouble. There was a reference to free fees but that is a load of rubbish. There is no such thing as free fees. One either pays fees or the education is free.

I acknowledge that the Government has introduced supports, on which I compliment it, but while I have listened to advertisements on the radio, I note that many firms, particularly small and medium enterprises, have not yet signed up to a no-deal Brexit programme. The financial services is one area in which there is no doubt that we can benefit and it is a plus for Ireland. More than 200 financial services firms have decided to relocate from London and more than half of them are coming to Dublin, which is a tribute to the financial genius of the city of Dublin and the country of Ireland. Out of the disaster of Brexit, if we can take one crumb of comfort, it is that this area will be protected and developed. I look forward to it developing in a very positive manner.