Mr. Pat Doherty:

I thank the Minister and his staff for attending today. At paragraph 8 of his opening statement, the Minister stated that a majority in the North voted to remain. How is that vote to be respected? What will be the impact if it is not respected on, for example, the special EU programmes body and InterTradeIreland? There are other bodies but I pick on those two. Currently, the North-South Ministerial Council is represented to the EU by both Governments. What would be the role of the Irish Government in taking that forward if Britain were to leave the EU? What particular emphasis would then fall on the shoulders of the Irish Government? I ask the Minister to expand on that if he could.