Neale Richmond (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I commend the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, and all Ministers on the passage of this Bill and one their sterling efforts in this House this week and in the other House in the previous fortnight. I particularly mention the legion of departmental officials and diplomats from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and across Government and the efforts they have put in, especially in the past two and a half to three months since the European Commission issued its notices and the work of drafting this comprehensive legislation began. We can safely say from a legislative point of view that we are as best prepared as we can be. Unfortunately, I do not think anybody can be fully prepared for the prospect of a no-deal scenario, but I hope we can avoid that.

The aspect of the Bill that deals with the renaming of the status of the United Kingdom to be recognised as a member state during the transition period is the one aspect of the Bill I hope we do see. I hope we can still see this withdrawal agreement come to be and I hope we can look forward to a result in Westminster tonight that will take the prospect of a no deal scenario off the table. However, that result alone simply will not do it. We need to call on our friends and colleagues across the water to look to the people they represent and to the people they want to share good relations with, both on this island and across the European Union, and make sure at this very late stage that they start to bring a little bit of sense to their own debate. We have done our bit as Members of the Oireachtas, and the Tánaiste has done his bit as a member of Government. It is now down to civic society and to all areas of our business sector that have not prepared as much as they might have done so far to use the many resources that are open to them that the Government and their representative bodies and trade associations have put in place, and to do everything they can do to offset the very worrying prospects of a crash-out scenario. We continue to hope for the best but, unfortunately, we must continue also to prepare for the worst.