Government are 'sleepwalking' into a chaotic disorderly Brexit, say Fianna Fáil

Britain was “hoping to try and bounce” Ireland into agreeing to drop the backstop in the Withdrawal Agreement, he said. The backstop guarantees there will be no hard border in the event of a no-deal.

During a debate on Brexit at the party's Ard Fheis in City West, Dublin, this afternoon, Mr Collins also claimed the government was “sleepwalking” into a disastrous no-deal Brexit.

Little detail of specific supports for the agriculture sector had been outlined, he said, and the government had also been slow to reveal and publish emergency legislation with the Omnibus Bill.

Mr Collins highlighted how 40% of med tech devices got their certificates from the UK, but these would not be allowed to be sold anywhere in the EU if there is a disorderly Brexit.

“The government are leaving it down to the wire. And uncertainty is intensifying now,” argued the Limerick County TD.

Earlier, SDLP leader Colum Eastwood also told the Fianna Fáil conference that any hardening of the border after Brexit would “be a deliberate violation of our political process by the British government".

"No-one should be in any doubt - the instability of Brexit and the instability faced by the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement are inextricably linked," he said.

"A hard border in Ireland threatens to bring existential threats to many of our industries - it threatens to position us as a permanent economic backwater."

Last month, Fianna Fáil and the SDLP announced a partnership arrangement but also stopped short of merging.

Fianna Fáil, despite criticising the government over its response to Brexit, has said the Opposition party will support the government's emergency legislation to protect Ireland in the event Britain crashes out of the EU next month.

The emergency measures, to ensure transport pensions and healthcare services continue, will come before the Dáil for debate next week.