Mr. Maro? ?efovi:

I thank the Chair and I also thank Senator McDowell for his kind words. We very much appreciate them, the support, and as I said, the trust. I can tell you we did our utmost to make sure our negotiating team was full of the best people in the Commission. They are patient, diligent, great economists, and lawyers who have a lot of experience with handling very difficult negotiations and who, over the years, have built the trust and understanding also with the UK partners despite, as has been said, the rather difficult moments we have gone through over the past year. I remember some of our meetings very well. I fully understood at that time how crucial this question is for Ireland. I understood all the concerns about how the whole relationship between the EU and the UK would evolve. Therefore, we had a steadfast commitment to peace on the island of Ireland and a clear commitment that there would, under no circumstances, be a hard border on the island. We worked with our UK partners to ensure to find a solution which worked for Northern Ireland, for the island, and for the economy of the whole island, and that not only Northern Ireland would benefit from this exclusive access to - and I am referencing Joe Kennedy III here - to the best worlds of both markets. We also wanted to manage to protect the integrity of the Single Market and under no circumstances put Ireland and its economy under any negative pressure. It was not easy work but we were working with a great team and we always had very strong, almost constant, interaction with the Irish Parliament and Government. We got a lot of advice from this side and it was always very much appreciated.

I would also like to reassure the committee that, as we did in the past, we recorded its requests. I know we owe the members an answer on Irish whiskey. We only announced that we were tendering the work and will be looking into this matter in order to provide a precise response. Once again, I thank the committee for its kind invitation to have another interaction and the possibility of exchanging views on what is a very important development in EU-UK relations. Of course, we are always available to the Irish Parliament and Government to work with them as closely as possible to make sure, not only that the good agreements are in place, but that they are properly implemented. Once again, I thank the members for the support, trust, and for their kind words.