Brexit has put Ireland in a "scary space", Irish Congress Trade Union (Ictu) general secretary Patricia King has told the Seanad.
Ms King said it was not an exaggeration to say the economies of both the Republic and Northern Ireland could be “turned over completely” by the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union.
“People are finding it difficult to come to terms with what this could actually mean. Nobody wants to be dramatic about it and nobody wants to put the fear of God into people, but at the same time we have to be realistic,” she said.
Ms King said that she had attended a meeting with the European Commission’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier recently.
“The scariest thing about the meeting with him was he didn’t know the answer. And he’s senior and I’m sure an extraordinary Commission man. When you go in to do a set of negotiations you’re dead meat unless you know what you want,” she said.
“We’re not in that space in relation to Brexit, and that is a scary space [TO BE IN]. Nobody knows the answer.”
Ms King was addressing the committee on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, sitting in the Seanad, on Thursday.
She said the Irish Government had done some good work in terms of preparation for Brexit which had been noted by contacts in Britain’s Trade Union Congress.
The European Union’s “straightjacket of fiscal rules” was discriminating against public investment and must be relaxed, she said.
Ms King said Ireland was likely to be the worst affected of the EU27 when Brexit happened, and the Belfast Agreement must not be viewed as an “impediment” during negotiations.
“Failure to come to a post-Brexit arrangement which protects trade and jobs would, we believe, necessitate a significant policy shift on the part of the European Union,” she said.
“Central to this must be an end to the straightjacket of fiscal rules that effectively discriminate against public investment.”
Ms King said there had been many statements in the months since the Brexit referendum regarding the unique circumstances of the border between the Republic and Northern Ireland and the need to provide a mechanism to negotiate them.
“Congress believes that the Belfast Agreement already provides the structure for dealing with these issues and that the Agreement must not be viewed as an impediment to the negotiation but rather as a resource for it.
“The agreement places an obligation on the governments of the Republic of Ireland, the UK and Northern Ireland to make decisions and act in the best interests of all the people on the island of Ireland both economically and socially.”
She said the EU had an obligation to ensure all member states, “present and past”, lived up to their obligations as set out in the Belfast Agreement.
Meanwhile, the European Youth Forum’s head of policy and advocacy David Garrahy said there was “no upside” to Brexit for young people, who he described as “profoundly pro-EU”.
Mr Garrahy described the under-25s as “Generation Maastricht”, referring to the treaty ratified in 1993, “because under this treaty borders disappeared and mindsets changed”.
