Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Maith thú, a Chathaoirligh, as úsáid a bhaint as do chúpla focal. Tá ardmholadh tuillte agat. Go raibh maith agat as sin. I wish to raise yesterday's unilateral decision by the British Government to extend aspects of the grace period of the protocol.I think the Leader and colleagues would agree that things are heading in a very negative direction and it is completely unnecessary.

More than a week ago, the joint committee met and understood the issues to be addressed at the next meeting in a couple of weeks. The meeting was supposed to be about jointly agreeing solutions to these very issues but here we are faced again with a solo run by the British Government, which is nonsensical, provocative and puts it on a collision course with the EU. The messing needs to stop. The British Government needs to get back to the serious work of managing these issues at the joint committee.

Sinn Féin shares the concerns of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Simon Coveney, that the EU is negotiating with a partner that it simply cannot trust, which has been our experience of the British Government over many years. Just a few weeks ago in this very Chamber the Seanad unanimously agreed a motion calling on the British Government to fulfil its legal obligations to hold a public inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucance, which is a commitment that was made and agreed at Westin Park in 2001. Just this week, again in this very Chamber, the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement heard from Irish language groups that called for urgency in the implementation of Irish language legislation. An Acht na Gaeilge was committed to and agreed by the British Government at St. Andrews in 2006. The British Government continues to renege on the legacy mechanisms it agreed with the Irish Government and all of the parties in the North at Stormont House in 2014.

The DUP, the Tories and loyalist crime gangs are engaged in an anti-democratic campaign against popular opinion, international law and the Good Friday. As Susan McKay said in her article in today's edition of The Irish Times, the DUP has decided that chaos is the best plan. The Good Friday Agreement has been transformational for Ireland and our peace process so it must always be protected. We must now ensure that these issues are resolved within the parameters of the legal agreement between the EU and the British Government. I would once again, as I have done consistently in recent times, call for the Minister for Foreign Affairs to update the House on the latest situation regarding the implementation of the protocol and, crucially, our steadfast collective response to the unilateral action taken by Britain in regard to it.