Anthony Lawlor (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted with the way Mr. Boylan spoke about Brexit. It is a concern for all of us, not just in the Border area but nationally.

We can see how serious it is when we have people in the Department working to ensure we do what we can, from the point of view of the Irish diaspora in the United Kingdom, to ensure something like this does not happen because of the negative impact it would have.

Many of those in the Border area would love to keep the Border in place and one of the reasons for that is the smuggling. Irrespective of what some people might say, smuggling is still going on. Mention was made of smuggling of cigarettes, alcohol and diesel to some extent. There are people along the Border whose criminal activities are politically motivated. That remains the case and they would like to retain the Border.

In regard to tourism, the only time I have visited that neck of the woods was to visit Newgrange. Are there any historical perspectives that can be linked to tourism in the area? Recently, in Dublin I saw what looks like a camouflaged Army bus going around covering the 1916 trail. Perhaps something like that could be done for the Boyne area. In America, they have a Civil War trail. Highlighting historical areas like this is one way to increase tourism. We are changing our attitudes so perhaps we could look at doing something like this. Our green, white and orange flag is based around the two cultures, the Nationalist and the Orange, with the white colour representing peace between them. Perhaps we could develop something that would link the two cultures because what we are dealing with now arose from the situation between them.

I am disappointed that the witnesses did not mention a particular factor. When I became a Deputy, I saw people from my area, Naas, and the surrounding area drive up the motorway to shop in Newry. Now I see the reverse happening. I was in a hotel in Naas a couple of weeks ago and heard that it has changed its marketing strategy to go after people in the North. The currency is the driving factor in this regard. This is the most significant factor in regard to why people travel from one side of the Border to the other and why the trade moves from one side to the other. If the pound was worth 91 or 95 cent, as it was when I was elected, traders in the North would be jumping with joy because people would be crossing the Border to shop in Newry. Now that the situation is reversed, there is more trade coming south. This is a significant issue.

Can anything be done in this regard? We are not going to get the United Kingdom to join the euro and we will not go back to the pound, but could something be done to provide a comfort zone for each side, particularly for the retail sector, so that this will not be a significant issue for it in the future? I expect traders on the north side of the Border are up in arms now because the currency difference operates against them currently in comparison with what is happening here.