Mr. Peter Sheridan:

On the first point made by Francie Molloy, MP, I was not making a political point that the Government supports his position, it was more the practical reality that 16% of trade from the Republic of Ireland is with the United Kingdom, which in fact rises to 50% for agriculture. The practical reality when one gets into the detail of the negotiations is how we keep the unique issues of Northern Ireland on the agenda when we are not there. I have no reason to believe that the Prime Minister or the Secretary of State are not genuine when they say they will look after our interests but one wonders as one gets into the complexity of details how many of the issues in Northern Ireland will get continued publicity or efforts around them.

On positivity post-Brexit, Dr. Soares and I were at a conference of 25 persons with Welsh, Scottish and Irish academics in the Europa hotel a few weeks ago. I would say they were all glass half full type people, but we struggled to come up with concrete examples of an opportunity. We were genuinely trying to come up with opportunities. That being said, I think the positives are the opportunity. I have not detected anywhere among political parties in Northern Ireland people who do not want to ensure that the British-Irish relationship continues to grow. I have not detected anybody who does not want to protect the peace process. I have not detected anybody who does not want to ensure we do not become an economic basket case in Northern Ireland and that the economy is protected. I have not detected anybody who wants to maximise border controls, rather they want to minimise any controls on the Border and likewise in terms of the common travel area. There are a host of positives that all of us can galvanise around because it seems to me, and I think it is the same here, that those are issues people can have a common view on and we should use those as the positives rather than always going into the negatives. We can coalesce around those positives.

I wish I had the answer to some of the issues that Mickey Brady raised. I would probably be worth more than I am now because I do not know what will happen to the Ell medical services card. It strikes me that if one is outside the European Union, that medical card is not valid anymore. I do not know that. Likewise, I do not think anybody knows about the situation around welfare at this stage. I live in Derry beside Seagate. Half the workforce live in Donegal and travel that Border every day. We need to ensure that post-Brexit they can come and go to Seagate with no difference. That is the win we need to concentrate on.