Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On Senator Chambers's last comments, I also remember the days when the current and one of the former leaders of the DUP also talked about the positive potential of the protocol and how it offered the best of both worlds.

I thank the Minister for being with us today for these statements. I have consistently called for statements in the past weeks, while appreciating fully the sensitivities of a live negotiation, and the discussions and engagements that the Minister and his European colleagues will be having with their British Government counterparts. At no point did I seek to inject further heat or noise into these exchanges. Rather, I wanted to try to begin to inject some facts. I believe that the platform of the Seanad might be an important place to do that. I feel very passionately and strongly about this issue, as do colleagues across the Chamber. I also feel passionately about ensuring that some of those truths were amplified and told and given the space they deserved. This is a platform that the vast majority of the community in the North and beyond, and the vast majority of business, community, voluntary, trade union, and all kinds of sectors want, to cut through some of what has been said, which unfortunately has taken hold and prevailed over the past weeks and months.

On Brexit, the attitude of the British Government and the DUP to the protocol and Article 16, are the politics of the battering ram and the politics of self-interest, of confrontation and humiliation, the politics of division and demoralisation, the politics of despair and hopelessness, the politics of the big lie, and the narrow and reactionary politics of the past. As the Minister is aware, and as we have seen recently over the past few months, the politics of the veiled threat can become a real threat when violence and instability is brought to the streets.I want to take this opportunity again today to condemn this violence and thank all of those on the ground seeking to resolve it. The Good Friday Agreement is the politics of accommodation, compromise, respect, power-sharing and hope for a better future. Brexit threatens the Good Friday Agreement, its all-Ireland power-sharing institutions, the new accommodation between nationalists and unionists on this island, the better understanding between the peoples of Ireland and Britain and the mutual recognition and support between the Irish and British Government. Above all else, Brexit risks peace. As we have seen from comments by the British Government's Brexit negotiator, Lord Frost, in the House of Lords, peace in Ireland is now a commodity to be traded in the negotiations with the EU. Lord Frost said peace could be at risk if the EU decided to retaliate in a disproportionate weight to the threats to trigger Article 16. It is important to reiterate today that peace is neither a commodity to be bartered nor collateral damage to the self-interest of Boris Johnson and the Tory party.

The actions of the British Government and the DUP are flagrantly undemocratic. They ignore the fact that in 2016 the people of the North voted to remain in the EU and that the majority of the political parties, business organisations and people in the North are opposed to Brexit, and that the Irish Government and all of the parties in the Oireachtas are also opposed to Brexit. The big lie is that the protocol is damaging the North's economy but business and trade union organisations say the opposite. They recognise that the North's economy is well positioned with access to the EU Single Market and the British market and to the foreign direct investment that helps economic growth, sustains jobs and creates stability and certainty for businesses and workers. This is precisely the message I heard from almost 200 business organisations represented at a Sinn Féin breakfast in Belfast this morning. The majority of people, political parties in Ireland and the Government view Brexit, not the protocol, as the problem.

The protocol is an imperfect solution to the problems created by the British Government and its Brexit. It was negotiated, as Senator Chambers said, and agreed between the British Government and the EU. It is designed to protect the Good Friday Agreement, avoid a hard border and protect the all-island economy. The protocol, the withdrawal agreement and the trade and co-operation agreement were all negotiated between the EU and British Government. If the British Government unilaterally triggers Article 16 it risks the overall Brexit deal. The British Government is acting in bad faith. It is breaching trust and acting irresponsibly. In the past, it has flouted international law. As the Minister and other colleagues have said, it should step back from the brink. I am sure this is a message Lord Frost heard loud and clear at his meetings in Belfast this morning.

In contrast to the behaviour of the British Government and the DUP, we have the welcome support of the US and EU capitals. President Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Richard Neal have made it clear that any interference with the Good Friday Agreement would result in no trade deal between the US and British Government. Recently, a bipartisan motion of support for the agreement was passed by the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. The Good Friday Agreement and the protocol must be protected from the British Government and the DUP. This weekend, the people at the sharpest end of Brexit, namely, those who live on either side of the Border will protest in support of the protocol and to demand no hard border in Ireland. The protesters will gather at Flurrybridge, Carrickcarnan, Belcoo, Blacklion, Mayobridge, Aughnacloy, Lifford Bridge, Bridgend and Derry. Their message to Boris Johnson is to back off. This is a message the House, the Irish Government and all those opposed to Brexit must continue to send to the reckless Brexiteers.