As every Member agrees, Brexit poses the most serious challenge to this country since the foundation of the State. We have already seen the policy decision to devalue sterling cost the agrifood industry some €470 million in the last few months alone. Today, the UK Government publishes its White Paper on Brexit which might give an indication as to how it proposes to manage the Brexit negotiations when Article 50 is eventually signed next month. Despite the platitudes on all sides, it is clear that we are not prioritising Brexit to the extent we must to address the effect on our economy. Yesterday, we had to depend on listening to the debate in the House of Commons to find out what the plans and the effects on this country will be. The Secretary of State, James Brokenshire, addressed the House of Commons and agreed with the DUP's Sammy Wilson that to give Northern Ireland a special deal would be the wrong approach. It is clear that there will be a hard Border. This morning, Mr. Lux of the EU Commission went into extraordinary detail to outline blue and red channels for goods crossing the Border. This situation is totally unacceptable and comes within 48 hours of Prime Minister May talking here about the need to avoid a return to the old Border situation.
The question is what we are going to do about this. Does the commentary of Mr. Lux this morning not clearly underline the need for Ireland to build an alliance against what is a very fast emerging hard Brexit for this country with a hard Border and red and green channels where heavy goods vehicles and others will have to be called in and checked? He said some of it will happen with the benefit of technology while it will also require Border posts and staff. This is a seriously retrograde step. Brexit has the potential to wreck the Northern Ireland peace process and the Good Friday Agreement and to impact seriously on Border communities which are already struggling in the context of damaged trade. We have heard constant platitudes from the Government about an all-of-Government approach. We need a Minister for Brexit, appropriately resourced, and the Government must immediately publish a plan about how bilateral negotiations with Britain will go and, more particularly, how negotiations are going to go with the EU Commission. It is essential that Northern Ireland is granted a special deal to secure the future of this entire nation economically, socially and politically.
Does the Tánaiste accept that there is a very real and serious risk facing Ireland with the implications of the Border controls confirmed this morning by Mr. Lux? Is the Government accepting that Borders are going to be put in, which Mr. Lux suggested this morning? Can the Tánaiste outline the position to the House?