Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis an Aire Stáit as a bheith linn. Tuigim go bhfuil an tAire, an Teachta Coveney, gnóthach ar maidin agus tá me ag súil go mór le comhfhreagras a dhéanamh leis maidir leis an ábhar seo. I appreciate that the Minister is at a Cabinet meeting this morning and otherwise engaged but this is an issue of fundamental concern to, I think, all of us. As I said last week, there are tens of thousands of journeys made across the Border each day. There are thousands of people living in this State who are non-Irish EU citizens and, indeed, many who are not from the EU. The Nationality and Borders Bill could be quite severe in its implications for their ability to freely move across this island.

We must remember that although the component parts of the approach to the withdrawal agreement and Brexit were multifaceted, one of them was that there would be no return to a hard border on this island. I am of the view there should be no Border on this island. The sooner we get rid of the Border, the better it will be for all of us. That is especially apparent now. The approach was not that there would be no return to a hard border for some. That there should be no return to a hard border for the Minister of State or me but that there would be a hardening of it for others should cause us all deep concern. While I find the broader aspects of this particular legislation going through Westminster especially repugnant with respect to what it seeks to do, this has a direct implication for people living in this State and it is crucial the many citizens this could impact on hear what the Government has to say. There a range of human rights organisations that are also keenly interested in hearing what the Government and, by extension, the EU have to say on this.

Thus far, it appears the British Government’s response has been almost blasé. We should not be blasé about this issue. There are people who make that journey from the Twenty-six Counties into the Six Counties for work, leisure, study or whatever. We must ensure those people have the exact same rights as the rest of us. I am sure the Minister of State would be uncomfortable, as would I, that somebody who has come to live here, made their lives here and contributed significantly to Irish life would have lesser rights than she or I. Across the Oireachtas and in conjunction with the Government, we need to collectively and collaboratively work to ensure we are articulating our concerns on the international stage but also work hard to try to reverse, if we can, some of the negative, regressive and punitive implications of this legislation on people living here. They should have the right and entitlement to move freely across all of our Thirty-two Counties in the same way we all do.