Frank Feighan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome the Minister of State. I will indulge myself by saying that at Westminster there is huge admiration among most MPs for the Minister of State, the Taoiseach, the Tanáiste, Deputy Simon Coveney, and my colleague, Senator Neale Richmond. As we have said in the House before, there is huge unity here among all parties that a key priority which is shared by our EU partners is the need to protect the Good Friday Agreement, in all its parts. In the Tanáiste's contribution he said both sides had committed in December 2017 to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland, to protect the all-island economy and North-South cooperation and to preserve the integrity of the Single Market and Ireland's place in it. We cannot allow Ireland to become collateral damage in the United Kingdom's Brexit process. We need real and honest solutions to the challenges presented by Brexit. We did not get them last night. The Conservative Party seem to think this is game-playing or a bit like the Oxford debating society. We are, however, dealing with people's lives. As we know, Ireland has a shared and complicated history with its near neighbour. We look back at events such as the War of Independence, the Anglo-Irish Treaty, partition on the island of Ireland, the Economic War and the times when tens of thousands, the fathers and grandfathers of many people here, were emigrants to the United Kingdom. They built roads, taught schoolchildren and nursed the sick. They were well treated. However, we had two parallels. There was no political discourse with our near neighbour. The people in question were effectively on their own and we were hardly capable of catering for them in this state.

We have come a very long way because of one issue, the United Kingdom and Ireland entering the EEC in 1973. It gave Ireland parity of esteem with our near neighbour. Some 26 meetings, on average, take place every day between Irish and UK officials. That did not happen until 1973. I have no doubt that they brought us to the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985 and certainly the Good Friday Agreement. We are now a good friend and ally of the United Kingdom and that it has decided to leave has been a huge issue for us also.

In 2016 I was invited by the SDLP to launch the Irish for Europe at Westminster. Effectively, what we were trying to do, even though the decision to leave was sovereign, was ensure Irish people living in the United Kingdom who had a vote appreciated the fact that it was in our interests for the United Kingdom to remain in the European Union. It was the only party which campaigned for those citizens to remain, but I stand to be corrected on that point. On that day I said what happened in referendums was that people did not vote on the questions put to them. There have only been two referendums in the United Kingdom since the 1940s and 1950s. We have had 27 held here in 27 years. In referendums people never vote on the question put to them. They may not like the Government and the issue could be about water or turf-cutting. In the United Kingdom it was about immigration. The island of Ireland and the Border did not come into the discourse. We have to ensure the Good Friday Agreement will be protected.

I pay tribute to Dominic Grieve, Keir Starmer, Anna Soubry and many others. I know that among 80% of MPs and Lords there is generosity towards the island of Ireland. They are absolutely horrified at what is happening because what we now have is the worst form of English nationalism which is causing and has caused a huge cancer in the politics of the United Kingdom, but it cannot be allowed to cause a cancer on the island of Ireland. I thank our colleagues in the European Union for standing up for us, ensuring we are united and that we count. There are people within the Conservative Party who still have not accepted that we have parity of esteem on the island of Ireland. We want to be a friend and good neighbour, but they have to accept that the days of the 1920s, 1940s and 1950s are over. They do not reflect the generosity of the British people.I hope that, in the coming weeks, Boris Johnson will come up with some credible solutions. As I said, we respect, although we regret, the UK's decision to leave. The fact remains that the Government will continue to represent and protect the interests of Ireland and, as the Tánaiste said, it is for London to decide what it intends to do next. It is a worrying situation. What we heard from the UK last night was especially worrying because it was like flying a kite that did not fly high. We must be united in ensuring that the island of Ireland and the Good Friday Agreement will not become collateral damage in the UK's intent on Brexit.