Seanad debates

Wednesday, 11 May 2022

10:30 am

Photo of Paul GavanPaul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guests and express my appreciation to the Minister for taking the time in this important week to listen to the debate on this motion. It is heartening to see the Seanad united on this issue.

I will reflect on the broader impact of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 before dealing with the Border issue. The Act does five things: it allows, as others have said, asylum seekers to be sent to Rwanda; it allows the British Home Secretary to strip citizens of their citizenship without warning; it allows asylum seekers to be criminalised; it allows people who arrive across the English Channel to be treated more harshly; and it ensures that protections against modern slavery are undermined. I will use a word I have not used in the six years I have been in this House. This is truly wicked legislation. There is no other way to describe it.

I agree with Senator Boylan. I believe the British people are better than this. When I was at the Council of Europe at the migration committee a couple of weeks back, there were British representatives present. They included the peer, Leslie Griffiths, who spoke openly of his horror at the legislation being passed. He was not the only one. It is clear many people were upset about this Act being passed. Unfortunately, there were also overtones of xenophobia from some of the British Conservative members we met during that week at the human rights body.

As to why this legislation was brought forward, I am reminded of a song written in the 1970s called "Nothing but the Same Old Story", in which the songwriter referred to trying to drown out the sound of the crumbling foundations. That is what is happening. The extreme right-wing UK Government is trying to drown out the disaster it has created for itself with Brexit, and its actions are having dreadful consequences for human rights. I did not ever expect to see legislation like this passed in Britain.

On the Border issue, it is the height of economic insanity. I had the pleasure of meeting a group of about 30 students from the Kelley School of Business in Indiana this morning. They were heading up to the North later on. In two years' time, if this Act is implemented, that will not be happening. They will still come to visit us but will not travel to the North. The impact of this on tourism in the North will be cataclysmic. I am glad to hear Tourism Ireland was here today, and it is important that we speak with one voice about this.

It is a trend with the British Conservative Party - and, unfortunately, some unionist colleagues - that, regardless of economic consequences, it seems hell-bent on carrying on to the detriment of everyone's future. Let us talk about some examples. After this legislation becomes law, a taxi driver who brings a family of Americans across the Border and realises that they have not applied for an ETA could be subject to a €2,000 fine for each passenger if stopped by the police for any reason. For someone who lives in Donegal, wants to go shopping in Derry and on the way witnesses a crime, if they talk to the police and their identity is checked, they could face serious consequences if they do not have an ETA. This has not been thought out properly. Will coach tours continue to cross the Border to the Six Counties? It is highly unlikely in many cases.

It is vital that the Irish Government and the EU engage with the British Government to ensure that this legislation is reversed in order that there will be no return to a hard border, electronic or otherwise, for anyone living in Ireland. James Connolly famously said that partition would bring a carnival of reaction, North and South. Unfortunately, 100 years later we are still seeing that carnival bell being rung by the British Tory Government. It is important that all of us unite on this and make a vow across the Chamber to insist that this wicked legislation be dropped.

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