Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is welcome. His presence in the House is timely and important. As a resident of County Louth and a Border community, I am always anxious about talks relating to Northern Ireland and the safety and security of those of us who live near the Border. We are always conscious of the reckless and manipulative manner in which the actions of the British Government always end up affecting us on the Border and across the island.

On Saturday next, I will stand on the Border, in solidarity with all citizens of this island and the business communities, calling for the security of this island and the protection of its status within the EU. We will protest at the Border, in Carrickcarnan, County Louth. The protest has been organised by Border Communities Against Brexit. It is important we stand together in solidarity, of all parties, businesses and backgrounds, to say we will not stand for this and that we need to move on from this. We have been talking about the Northern Ireland protocol for more than 12 months. We thought it was done when it was, originally, welcomed by all parties including the British Government, which had been involved in negotiating it. Nobody forced its hand to sign this; there were no threats from the EU as to what would happen if it did not sign up. It won an election on the back of Brexit being done and being oven ready. It is incredible how wrong we all were.

It is worth noting the citizens of Northern Ireland support the protocol and are willing its success. The disingenuous and disturbing manner in which the UK Government is acting is not surprising, although it never surprises me. It is opportunistic and always tries to take advantage for its own political gain of that nationalistic view growing within the UK. It is taking advantage also of the Northern unionist parties, which, in many ways, are going through a crisis of identity themselves. Perhaps one of the greatest ironies of the Brexit for which the Democratic Unionist Party, DUP, campaigned so strongly is that it could be the sword on which it might fall. That party welcomed the protocol and now, with a severe degree of inflexibility, it says the protocol is fundamentally wrong.

It is beyond belief we are still discussing Brexit and the protocol. I wish we could just move on. We are almost beginning to doubt the British Government really wants Brexit, given it is protesting so much. We had an excellent engagement with Commissioner Šefovi on Monday last. He is very positive and it is heart-warming and encouraging to see his commitment to this island, to upholding EU law and to looking after citizens throughout this island. His fear was that no matter what the EU brings to the table, the British Government will bring something else, and that there is a continuous shifting of the goalposts. We must reiterate it will be reckless of the UK Government to invoke Article 16. We have to move on together. I restate my support to the Minister in respect of his endeavours in Europe. He has the support of the entire island and the business communities repeatedly speak about the benefits of the protocol. Earlier today, the president of the Derry chamber of commerce stated:

Reports that the UK Government are preparing to trigger Article 16 are damaging and will do little to allay the concerns of everyday traders who want to make the Protocol work. As negotiations continue over the future direction of GB-NI trading arrangements, Lord Frost must reflect upon the significant damage that this unnecessary step would have upon the North West and beyond.

Businesses, the island and the EU are behind the protocol. The DUP and the UK Government need to get behind it as well.