Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to second the Private Members' motion on behalf the Sinn Féin group. The rationale for Sinn Féin bringing this PMB has been outlined by Senator Ó Donnghaile. The island of Ireland is once again an afterthought in the minds of the right-wing, anti-immigration Tory Party. Brexit was driven by anti-immigration, little Englander politics and the people of the North and the impact it would have on the Good Friday Agreement were not given a second thought. The people living in the Six Counties overwhelmingly voted to remain in the EU but their democratic wishes were ignored. Now, the Nationality and Borders Act will effectively mean an end to freedom of movement. There is not a single person living on this island who will benefit from an electronic border.

Tonight we have an opportunity to send a loud, strong and united message to Westminster that we will not accept it, just as we did on the reimposition of a hard border on this island post Brexit. It was through our collective actions that we ensured that the EU and the US stood solidly with Ireland and made it clear to the British Government that a hard border or any threat to the Good Friday Agreement was a non-runner and would not be tolerated. However, the Nationality and Borders Act will either mean racial and ethnic profiling or a hard border for all. How else does the British Government intend to be able to identify who is Irish or who is a British citizen?

We have heard about some of the impacts such a Act could have on the likes of sports and tourism, but it will also have an impact on non-Irish or British citizens who work for all-Ireland bodies such as Waterways Ireland or Safefood. How will those workers be expected to go about their business? Will they be expected to apply for an ETA? What about a non-Irish student living in County Donegal who wants to go to college on the Magee campus of Ulster University? How much will that student be expected to pay for an electronic waiver?

The implications for the tourism industry as have been outlined are also considerable. Day trips are regularly organised to the Titanic Quarter and the "Game of Thrones" locations. Will they now have to incur an extra cost? We know that tourist agencies will just opt to go to other sights rather than going north at all.

Likewise there could be implications for research. Only a couple of months ago, 62 all-Ireland collaborative research programmes between academics and institutions were announced. Among the projects that were awarded funding was a collaboration between University College Dublin, UCD, and Queens University Belfast to examine the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Will international academics who work in UCD be expected to apply for the electronic waiver?

The reality is that we do not know the answers to these questions because we do not know how much the costs are or how long the waiver will be valid. The ETA is unwanted and the British Government should be told, loud and clear, that it can stick it. The island of Ireland will not tolerate any imposition of a border on the island and will not tolerate a racist, right-wing government in Britain passing laws without an iota of thought or concern for how it will be implemented or will impact on this island.

While much of the focus of this debate will of course rightly focus on the implications of this Act on our island, I express my solidarity with those progressive voices in Britain who are also trying to fight this Act because of the other deeply racist elements that are contained within it such as the two-tier system of refugees, the offshoring of migration and sending refugees to Rwanda. The people of Britain are better than that. They are better than the Tory government. I sincerely hope that those progressive voices in Britain will prevail. Tonight, at least the representatives of Seanad Éireann can speak with one voice to say not here, not on this island.