Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I commend the work that has been done and acknowledge the complexities that have faced us in terms of Brexit. I assure the Minister that we will continue to work with him in every way possible to ensure the outstanding elements that need to be addressed are addressed, as we have done from the beginning.

I will raise two matters with the Minister. The first relates to the driving licence situation. We have around 17,000 people in this State who have British driving licences. One of the reasons that many of them are reluctant to give up those licences is that they do not know if the Irish licence will be recognised in Britain. Many people live here but are working in Britain during the week and going back and over. They do not know what that will mean for them. Is there a way the Minister can give them reassurance? They are also looking at the law that underpins them being forced to hand over an official document in exchange for another. It would be helpful if the Minister could explicitly let them know what legislation that is based on. People are discussing, with reference to the Good Friday Agreement, the right to be British or Irish or both. They do not see why they need to hand over the British licence. We need to do that immediately before we run into the end of December.

The other issue I raise is that, in response to Brexit, we need to double down on working on an all-island basis in all aspects of our society and economy. The area of further and higher education, as well as research and development, needs to be protected and improved upon in terms of how we operate on an all-Ireland basis. There are positive indications that solutions will be found for Erasmus and Horizon and those are necessary. Horizon has been a powerful driver for all-island research, evident in the fact that, between 2014 and 2016, 63% of successful applications for research funding to Horizon from the North were in partnership with third level institutions in the South. While we need to protect the progress that has been made, we also know there is much more that needs to be done in terms of cross-Border enrolment and other aspects of higher education. I look forward to working with the Minister, Deputy Harris, to ensure that happens in the future.

I want to acknowledge what John Major has said in recent days on Brexit, the challenges it poses and his acknowledgement that Brexit has left the British and the UK much further down the line in terms of the break-up of the union.

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