Debate contribution: European Parliament Observer Status

Debate contribution by Mr Declan Kearney on 8 December 2025.

MLA: Mr Declan Kearney
Party at the time: Sinn Féin
Date: 8 December 2025
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Private Members' Business
Heading: European Parliament Observer Status
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5284464

Text

Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-leas-Cheann Comhairle.
Every party in the Assembly agrees on one thing: Brexit has left us all with a democratic deficit. The difference, of course, is in how that democratic deficit is defined and then addressed. Some carp about that deficit without facing up to realities, still refusing to acknowledge that they themselves bought them and us all a pig in a poke. Then there are the rest of us: the representatives elected to this place who represent the citizens in the North who voted against Brexit — the majority. The POC attempt by unionism overshadows the DUP approach to the debate. Let me briefly deal with the fake news narrative that the motion is somehow a constitutional stalking horse. It is divisive and inflammatory to say that, because the constitutional future of this place will be addressed and resolved under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. That is a settled matter. This is a case of back to the future, with the abuse and misuse of POCs to subvert democracy. You could say that unionism appears to be resolved to undermining the democracy of the institutions with negative politics in one hand, and the misuse of a POC in the other.
Go raibh maith agat as sin.
I would go further; it is a subversion of democracy. It is a classic case of cutting your nose off to spite your face. Why would you not look for increased access and maximum engagement with the European Union and the British Government on how we navigate the post-Brexit realities? By contrast, there have been reasoned contributions in the debate from others, which are predicated upon the logic of maximising democratic engagement with the European Commission. In my remarks, I will touch on the importance of that. Brexit has been an economic, political and social disaster for citizens and businesses here and in Britain. Since its imposition, Sinn Féin, other parties here, the Irish Government and the EU have sought to mitigate its worst impacts, and the mechanisms now exist to do just that through the protocol and the Windsor framework. While our regional economy is showing growth because of the dual market access that is available under the Windsor framework, our voice is silenced in the European institutions because Brexit removed our ability to directly input in them. Unsurprisingly, British Governments have been focused on the democratic deficit that their approach provoked. They have failed to address how that can be best remedied. The good news is this: the damage caused by right-wing Tory and DUP recklessness does not have to be a permanent condition for people in the North. Practical and pragmatic approaches are available to us, and I agree with many of our local businesses, and with the report of the Murphy review, that a one-stop shop mechanism to simplify administrative processes would, indeed, be an advantage to us. The British Government need to listen and take on board the need for those reforms. On maximising our input to EU processes, a decision to confer observer status representation for the North at the European Parliament and the opening of a European Commission office in Belfast would be good starting points. Maximising our democratic input in the post-Brexit systems, for which the British Government and the EU are responsible, makes sense. Brexit has swept away all the constitutional, political and economic assumptions about this place, but the North of the island also enjoys distinct advantages over other regions that have been directly harmed by Brexit. In 2017, as colleagues have mentioned, the European Council stated that in the event of Irish reunification, the entire territory of Ireland would become part of the European Union. We, in the North, therefore have an automatic legal route to rejoining the EU via constitutional change and a referendum on a new Ireland. The reunification of our island is no longer just an aspiration; it is a viable project that should be pursued in earnest by the British and Irish Governments. Irish unity has become the defining issue of our generation. The case for constitutional change is being made across this island and further afield by people from all walks of life. It is time that the British and Irish Governments began to plan and prepare for the constitutional change that is allowed for under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. The Dublin Government should do so through the appointment of a Minister of State for reunification, the immediate publication of a Green Paper on constitutional change, and the convening of a citizens' assembly on our constitutional future.
In a moment. The British Government should set a date for a unity referendum before the end of this decade. The EU played a strategically important role in helping to develop and consolidate our peace process through political, diplomatic, economic and financial support. Twenty-seven years after our peace settlement, it is time for us to open up the next phase of the peace process based on national reconciliation and reunification.
Did you read the motion?
You did. Did you understand the motion
because it appears that, characteristically,
having —? Listen, the pantomime season has not even begun. It will start, but we are not going to start it here today. Thanks for your intervention. The proposals advanced in the motion will help to address the current democratic deficit and navigate the new post-Brexit trading realities. At the same time, they will create pragmatic interim arrangements to facilitate a smooth reintegration of the North within the European Union, and in the context of constitutional change and Irish unity. Therefore, supporting the motion is not about the fake news narrative being purported by some on the other side of the House. It is, in fact, about pragmatically addressing the practical realities and challenges that we face in the immediate term — in the here and now — and how we can sensibly prepare for the democratic transformations and opportunities that lie ahead, instead of, as some would prefer, sticking our heads in the sand.

1,011 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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