Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the fact that I do not live in a Border area, nor have I ever. I do not represent a Border area but I do not see that as a disadvantage because there are vehicles such as this committee. I keep in close contact with my Government colleagues from the Border area, including Deputy McLoughlin and Senator Feighan. I welcome the experience and expertise that Deputy Smith has provided over many years, and which Deputy Breathnach has in more recent times. I am anxious to hear their concerns.

I have been in Border areas and I am happy to continue that engagement both North and South. This committee is a useful forum in which practical issues can be highlighted with a view to addressing them. I welcome contact on all occasions from people on the northern side of the Border. I acknowledge my positive working relationship with colleagues in the North during my period in office. That should now be subject to a great level of intensification.

I agree with Deputy Smith that civil society should be engaged. We should use the opportunity to harness the expertise and experience involved, having regard to the extent of the challenge. There is a need for the widest possible engagement and conversation on the implications following the result of the UK referendum, both North and South. Many individuals and groups across the island of Ireland are not engaged daily with the political establishment. Deputy Smith is right to say that they should have an opportunity to have their voices heard and acted upon. That is in everyone's interest. In the coming weeks, the Government will put forward ideas on how best to harness this expertise and experience. It is important to have the widest possible engagement and I am satisfied that that will take place before the end of this year. I will be happy to hear the views of committee members in this respect, and will remain fully engaged with them.

I wish to welcome Mr. Pat Doherty, MP. The North-South Ministerial Council and the sectoral meetings will now take upon themselves a greater level of urgency.

I have been in contact with ministerial colleagues recently and North-South ministerial sectoral meetings involving a range of Departments, including those with responsibility for environment, aquaculture and marine, education, agriculture, trade and business and health and food safety, have been arranged for dates that include 26 October and 9 November. We will hold a plenary session on 18 November. The Special EU Programmes Body, SEUPB, will meet on 2 December. I spoke to the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport today and said I am looking forward to having dates confirmed. I would be happy to act as overall co-ordinator and have been in contact with colleagues in Armagh. Members know of the level of commitment to and understanding of these issues on the part of our secretariat in Armagh. It is important to continue to engage.

As the negotiations proceed, those forums can engage with our respective Governments. I underline the commitment of my colleagues in government to the sectoral meetings and the overall engagement within the North-South Ministerial Council. I urge members who are not here and do not take up their seats here of the importance of, and the real need for, their engagement also and that of their constituents and communities at sectoral level.

I certainly respect the 56% vote in Northern Ireland. It creates a real challenge in the context of the overall negotiations that England, outside London, and Wales voted to leave but Scotland voted to remain. My primary interest, as a co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement, is in the vote of the people of Northern Ireland. I have impressed upon my UK colleagues and all of my European counterparts that the unique situation on the island of Ireland is such that 56% of people in the North cast their vote voted to remain within the EU. However, the legal structures are such that we do not deal with Northern Ireland or Wales as members of the European Union but with the UK. It is important, however, that, in the context of negotiations, that full consideration be given to the fact that people in Northern Ireland who had the opportunity to cast their vote and did so in the full knowledge of what was at stake voted to remain. That feeds in to what I have been doing in pressing my EU colleagues and will continue to do so, not for any special pleading or case but that due regard be given to the unique circumstance on the island of Ireland where there will be an EU frontier across the island from east to west and all the consequences that flow from that, as outlined by everybody here. We need to do some work together on that.