Vincent P Martin (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is very welcome to the Chamber. I commend the Sinn Féin team of Senators on having tabled the motion. It will, of course, see full support from the Green Party-An Comhaontas Glas, and I am glad to see that the House is speaking with one voice and that no one will oppose it.

Earlier today I had the pleasure of meeting a delegation which included Dr. Joanne Stuart, OBE, of the Northern Ireland Tourism Alliance. Its mission statement is "one voice for tourism". I got Dr. Stuart's business card. We are speaking as one voice tonight.

I recently had occasion to visit Northern Ireland to travel to a funeral. The cortège made its short way on foot from Killynoogan, County Fermanagh. The remains were received in Pettigo. I, therefore, walked through the two jurisdictions on foot. It was a stark reminder of how absurd the Border is. It also reminded me of how horrific it was for quality of life when a close-knit community suddenly had to go into a different jurisdiction, in an often hostile policed environment, to shop, to socialise, to work and to worship. It was just incredible.

I congratulate Sinn Féin and others who did well in the election. I am disappointed, obviously, for our two wonderful Green former MLAs, Rachel Woods and Clare Bailey, but hopefully their time will come again. It occurred to me that in the Brexit referendum a majority in Northern Ireland voted against Brexit. As the Minister said, a safe majority of MLAs are against Brexit. Sorcha Eastwood was victorious for the Alliance Party in Lagan Valley. I watched her being interviewed after she was elected and she said the protocol and Brexit came up on two doorsteps in all her canvassing. For the Greens who went up to Northern Ireland to help our fellow party members, it came up on no doorsteps. There is something missing there.

According to Dr. Joanne Stuart, this provision will create financial havoc in the North of this beautiful isle. No one will be immune from being financially burnt by this. Therefore, the people who are proposing this or who are not actively trying to support a lifting of the ETA will include in this dreadful unintended consequence their own people - all people, but including unionists. They are not immune to this. It reminds me that there has to be a better way forward. Northern Ireland is in a unique situation in that it can inhabit three universes: it can have full access to the British market; it can have full access to the EU market - and, of course, due to the Good Friday Agreement, Northern Irish people are entitled to become citizens of Ireland and European citizens; and it has unfettered access to the Republic of Ireland. That is a new Northern Ireland that people have not fully grasped yet, and this would be a retrograde step to introduce to the ETA. It is a Northern Ireland that can have a future spanning a continent and yet not lose its home, but that has not yet become clear to unionism.

It did become abundantly clear to the person whose funeral I attended, namely, the late Canon Pat McHugh, who, in 2017, when his church in Castleblayney had to undergo significant renovations, and when his flock, his congregation, had nowhere to pray, the nearby Church of Ireland rector, Neal Phair, opened up his church to the Catholic congregation. One might think that that is normal, but it was not and is not yet on this island, but he was ahead of his time. There was hope in that regard. For several months there were christenings, funerals and masses for Catholics in the local Church of Ireland. We need more of that togetherness. At one stage, Canon Pat McHugh, in pre-Good Friday Agreement times, had to assert his fundamental civil rights with just cause when the RUC was around. It was heartening at the funeral cortège that a member of the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary was directing traffic on the way into the funeral. I approached the officer and said it was good to see him there. The police officer said things were much better now but that we still have a long way to go. He said he lived very close to the late Pat McHugh's family.

I would love to see more of that, but unionism must stand up and change or it will be left behind. It is an important part of the fabric of our history. The future for Northern Ireland is an exciting one. It is encapsulated in how Andrew Trimble, the rugby player, identifies unionism, how Rory McIlroy, perhaps, identifies Northern Ireland, and how Barry McGuigan of yesteryear had an understanding of mutual respect. Let us start with tolerance, but let us move on to embracing and celebrating difference.