Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. The backdrop to today’s meeting is the decision made by the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, in her recent comments on Brexit that Britain would trigger Article 50 by the end of March 2017. The Minister of State stated there is clearly sympathy and understanding. What does that mean? Is that there to reassure us that there will be sympathy and understanding about Ireland's unique situation? What does the Minister of State believe this sympathy and understanding will deliver? Will it, as some members have suggested, mean a hardening of positions with regard to Britain? What impact will that have on Ireland?

From the British Prime Minister's statement, it seems to be going for a hard Brexit. If that is the situation it will greatly impact on Ireland. People have talked about not only the Border, customs etc., but also the impact it will have on people's daily lives and the impact it will have on the Good Friday Agreement. People are taking a case in court today over the fact that the Brits are clearly reneging on the Good Friday Agreement.

The tea and sympathy will not go down particularly well. Alex Salmond was here during the week. Scotland is unique in that it voted overwhelmingly to stay in the EU. Will this be part of the discussions the Irish Government will have regarding the unique situation in the North, where the majority voted in favour of staying in the EU? Does the Minister see it being a significant part of negotiations? Does he see it as a positive?

We discussed migration at a number of our meetings. The last time we discussed it here, I said the migration system was broken. The Minister of State said it was experiencing difficulties. I am paraphrasing. The EU agreed a two-year plan, which was launched in September 2015. We talked about, as an act of solidarity, allowing 150,000 refugees to travel from Greece and Italy to other EU states. I see no impact from the plan, given that 1,000 people have left Italy and 3,493 have left Greece. Austria, Hungary and Poland have yet to relocate anybody. The Minister of State gave figures for relocation to Ireland. Although we promised to take 4,000, the Minister of State said 69 people had arrived from Greece and 40 have been cleared for arrival.

Something is wrong in the system and we cannot seem to get answers. Maybe we do not have the answers. When one talks privately to people they say there is a difficulty and many people do not want to travel to Ireland or they do not know about Ireland. A huge number of unaccompanied minors are there, and they are clearly in dangerous situation. Is Ireland prioritising bringing them into the country? There is something wrong. The system is broken. The complete lack of solidarity on the part of some member states with the front-line states suggests that even the minimum figure of 160,000 refugees will not happen.

The Minister of State referred to Turkey and the impact it would have. However, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, not a single Syrian who has returned from Greece has been granted temporary protection status, despite the formal guarantees. Turkey is supposed to allow UN agencies access to facilities where returning Syrians are temporarily sheltered. Again, it has not happened. While the Minister of State says we will push on with the Turkish agreement, this is another indication that the system is not working. This is my major worry.

Other members have asked about the defence situation and I have concerns about it. The Minister of State mentioned the positives of CETA and TTIP. Would he not accept that there are also negatives? While the Irish Government is pushing ahead with them, other governments are saying they have failed. The German economics minister is saying talks have de facto failed. The French Prime Minister has announced a clear halt. Belgian and Austrian ministers have said the same. Although we have had no debate about CETA, we are pushing ahead with this major agreement. It is the wrong way to do things. If the Government wants to win people over to its argument, it must engage and talk, and it must be open.

The note says the Government wants the investment court system chapter excluded for the moment. Why is this? It was renamed the investor-state dispute settlement mechanism. Every single time I raised the issue, every Irish Government Minister spoke in glowing terms about it, yet we are talking about it being temporarily excluded. I find it odd. Why not permanently exclude it, if there is a cause for concern, which there clearly is across the world?