Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire agus an díospóireacht seo. I acknowledge the work he has done on this. It has consumed his Ministry and, indeed, this country and our neighbouring country for a long time. It is in that context that the behaviour we have seen in recent times has been extraordinary. In the week after we lost Austin Currie, it is appropriate to think back to the leadership demonstrated by people such as him and others in the context of Northern Ireland, and how that contrasts with the behaviour of the British Government. I have pointed out previously during debates with the Minister how extraordinary it is to see a country that once prided itself as a world power and respected principles such as honour turn itself into one that simply cannot be trusted.

Earlier this week, we had the honour of speaking to Commissioner Šefovi at a meeting of the Seanad Special Select Committee on the Withdrawal of the UK from the EU. We are lucky to have him dealing with this issue because, of all the people involved, he has made especially great efforts to acquaint himself with the issues and to familiarise himself with the intricacies of this debate and how important it is to both sides of the Border. He told us how he felt the tone of the British approach had changed, which is encouraging. I asked him whether, assuming we reach a resolution both sides can live with, we can trust that resolution to hold. I asked that in the context of us having got to that point and where it seems the British Government has no respect for the deals it has done or regard for the fact it has signed on the dotted line and made a commitment, and is willing to walk away from that.

I compared the British Government to a child with a football who says he is taking his football and going home, so the other kids cannot play, without realising he has to play football to survive. There is an extraordinary contradiction whereby the British Government believes it can hold this sword of Damocles over Ireland and Europe in respect of invoking Article 16, as though it will somehow damage us more than the UK. It will undoubtedly damage us, and it will undoubtedly damage Northern Ireland, but the British Government does not seem to realise it will cause Britain untold difficulties, just as, when it first supported Brexit, it did not anticipate all the problems it would cause. Notwithstanding the fact it is looking down the barrel of the fact it cannot distribute goods around the island of Britain, get fuel into cars or manage matters the way they are at the moment, it professes none of this is due to Brexit but rather that it is all just coincidental that it happens to be happening at the same time it is fiddling with international relations and playing puck with agreements it has signed up to.

I do not envy the Minister's position but I will ask him the same question I asked the Commissioner.I assume we will get to the point where another signature is made and where the British sit down and agree to whatever conditions. I am confident we will get there, particularly in light of what the Commissioner said on Tuesday and in light of the work that is being done in this area. Can we have faith that this will hold and that we will not be in the exact same position in whatever number of months or years? How can this country have faith that our international partners in London and in the Conservative Party will stand by the agreement they make? They have not stood by those agreements in the past. If past performance is a guarantee of future performance, how can we in any way be sure that the deal will stand? How can we have confidence that we will then have a foundation on which to move into the future of proper, functional, all-island trade between us and our neighbouring country? How can we have faith in that?