Vincent P Martin (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, and acknowledge the contribution of the Minister earlier. I welcome and acknowledge the solidarity in the Chamber. That solidarity should be a source of strength, not just for people in Ireland but for those throughout the world who value and uphold the rule of law. I also welcome the approach of the Government to date. It has resisted going down the road of Brit-bashing and has instead been resolute and forthright in its response to an extraordinary development whereby a celebrated country of western democracy has decided to welch and renege on an international binding agreement.

The concerns of the House have already been well ventilated in this debate. Reference was made to all living Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom who have put on the record their concerns. I think of those who have left this mortal coil, such as Churchill, Attlee, Wilson, Heath, Callaghan and Margaret Thatcher. Many would consider Thatcher to be no friend of Ireland, but I do not believe she would renege on an international agreement and cause the resulting fallout for so many.

With 99 days left, we should ask ourselves what we can do to try to stay positive. We should reassure ourselves that we have excellent negotiators. The Minister briefed us not so long ago. The Green Party received a briefing from the Department of the Taoiseach last week. The Green Party is foursquare behind this solidarity and we speak with some authority as an all-Ireland party and a European grouping. The Green Party leader in Northern Ireland is part of many in an alliance that are appalled by the attitude of the British Government and the lack of respect for an international treaty. We should reassure ourselves that we should stay positive because we have excellent negotiators. As a House, we should urge the EU, including Michel Barnier, to stand firm. We need the EU now more than ever before. We should continue to emphasise what awaits all of us if the infrastructure of a hard border is restored on the island of Ireland. Not so long ago, the then Taoiseach and current Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, reminded his European colleagues of fatalities in the context of customs and the mayhem and potential recipe for criminality that could arise as a result of the unwelcome restoration and reinstallation of a hard border. What else can we do? I commend the Fianna Fáil Party on introducing this motion.What else can we do? We should urge our very strong lobby in the US to hold firm and they have done that at this time.

Finally, we must remain strong because permanent damage will be done. We must repeatedly warn people about the potential to reverse the hard won peace, that the peace process is an ongoing project and that it would be so wrong to take the peace process for granted. I was born and reared in a Border town so I saw division every day from my early days. There was disruption at school sports events when school buses travelled north to play a team in the province of Ulster that was only a few miles away. I am acutely aware of the situation, as is Senator O'Reilly from Cavan. Although I am long since happily ensconced in Kildare, I have a very serious concern about how that hard won peace could be jeopardised. If this is game playing then it is so tasteless. Certain people have done permanent damage to their reputations if they are playing poker and this is all part of ratcheting things up. It is disgraceful behaviour by our neighbour, a country that is purportedly respected and celebrated throughout the world for upholding democracy and the rule of law, with the exception in the North of Ireland. America has its problems but its population might correct them if there is a certain outcome in the presidential election in November. There will be far more serious problems for Great Britain if Brexit comes to pass and that does not bear thinking about. Even though it was hard I have outlined some positive steps, attitudes and stances that we can adopt in Ireland.

It is very late so perhaps it is about time that we faced the harsh reality. People do not want to talk about the issue and do not wish to countenance it but we have to accept and recognise a doomsday scenario where we will have, if things pan out in a way that no one wants and it will be no fault of ours, a Border infrastructure. Make no mistake about it, the Republic of Ireland will be pushed into being a rogue state within the EU if one has a seamless unregulated frontier of the EU, and we are the way in. With a Border structure one might play it quiet and hold back for a few months but that is the harsh reality of our celebrated membership of the EU. It is a membership that no greater man than John Hume spoke about as being the key to peace on the island of Ireland, as the key to peace around the world, when he reminded Irish people that life is not orange or green and we live in a country called Europe. His words were liberating and people could see the bigger picture. The EU played a crucial part in the negotiations, as did the US lobby.

In conclusion, I want to acknowledge, on behalf of the Green Party, how pleased we are to be part of this unified approach. I know that the unified approach, in respect of the pandemic has fragmented in recent weeks, which is unfortunate. No one is playing politics with the issue as it is so serious. I urge people, as I know they will, to stand firm as a country and as a body politic. We will do our best and fight to the very end to make sure that a doomsday scenario does not happen on the island of Ireland.