Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday in the House, I encouraged Members to remember and to remain steadfast in encouraging support from the new US Administration for the Good Friday Agreement, for the peace process and for progress more generally here in Ireland against the impending reckless threat posed to us by Brexit. I was very encouraged to see reported in the media last night that President-elect Biden had a phone call with the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, where he referenced those commitments to the Good Friday Agreement and to Ireland. The worrying and very telling point to emerge from that exchange, as we understand it, is that the read-out from the US side referenced this exchange but the read-out from the British Government side did not even make reference to the fact that it was raised by President-elect Biden during the conversation.

The British Government is a co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement. It is bound under international law to uphold the agreement. We know the peril in which it has been knowingly placed by the British Government entering into the Brexit agenda and taking no consideration of the Good Friday Agreement and the implications for Ireland. This close to the end of the transition period, it is telling that the British Government would not even reference the fact that the matter was raised by the US Administration. That is particularly telling, but I also take a degree of heart from the fact that it still remains to the fore of the new Administration's agenda.

I was thinking about this on the way down to Dublin. If I have to, I will raise it every day on the Order of Business between now and the end of the year. I will take the opportunity where it is needed to encourage the steadfastness to remain. I know, by and large, that thankfully we have been and are at one in these Houses on this issue but in the middle of everything else, as the clock ticks down further, it is very important that we remain alert to these issues.

I appreciate that we will have the opportunity with the new omnibus Bill coming through the House to discuss some of these issues, but in the previous Seanad, to be fair to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, he did come before us regularly to update us on the negotiations. I know the Deputy Leader has a particular interest in this issue. At the earliest opportunity, we should hear from the Minister for Foreign Affairs, specifically on the Brexit negotiations.