Neale Richmond (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank both ambassadors for their frank and positive contributions. I have a few questions and I will conclude with a few points on which I hope there is general, if not 100%, agreement.

Ambassador Schellekens, said that Ireland and the Netherlands are absolutely natural partners in this process. Through our history of European relations since Ireland entered the then EEC in 1973, we have demonstrated that in respect of a number of issues, as have the Belgians and those in the UK. One of my greatest concerns - and I picked this concern up from what Ambassador Matulay said at the end of his contribution - is that the negotiations, once Article 50 is triggered, could be used as an excuse to be slightly vengeful. We are annoyed with the UK for taking this decision. I am very annoyed with the people and the Government of the UK for ever allowing this to happen. However, we cannot shoot ourselves in the foot by seeking to make an example of the UK and trying to punish it excessively because that is something that could damage the entire EU as well as ourselves.

There is concern that too good a deal could give confidence to certain governments in the EU not represented at this meeting and certain parties that have the potential to achieve power in upcoming elections. I am very wary of statements to the effect that we must have 100% endorsement of all four freedoms. One priority must be to maintain the highest level of trading co-operation between the EU 27 and the UK post-Brexit. We really need to be open to considering our red-line issues in that regard. Even before entering negotiations, we must have an element of flexibility because countries such as Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark have the most to lose if we decide to go for a harsh deal and be too forceful on the matter of trading. We have to allow the UK as much access to the Single Market as possible, otherwise I fear growing levels of euroscepticism will become quite powerful in that area of western Europe where they have not necessarily taken hold so far. How would the governments of both witnesses take a position on that?

Another concern both ambassadors mentioned is the rise of growing euroscepticism. All around the world today, being the day that is in it, anti-globalisation and anti-free trade movements are growing and the narrative is becoming increasingly insular for many countries. In return, I would argue that over the past ten years in particular, the EU has not helped itself. It has become increasingly aloof, bureaucratic and removed from the citizens of Europe, as opposed to from the European Commission, so I wonder how both ambassadors feel this can be addressed. How do we return the EU to being a wholly positive entity, which I believe it is, and how do we project that image of the EU so we can really attack and dampen down the rising levels of euroscepticism?

I would like to ask Ambassador Matulay specifically the extent of the Slovak diaspora in the UK. What is its population level? He mentioned that there are future opportunities for the Slovak Republic with the UK outside the EU regarding Range Rover. If he is able, maybe he could expand on that and consider other areas for all European countries, especially those in central and eastern Europe which perhaps have less of an historical relationship with the UK than has Ireland.

Before moving on to one of my colleagues, one reason referred to in our own discussions on bringing the ambassadors and representatives of the other 27 member states before the committee was that it would be an opportunity both to hear from them and to discuss and lay out the priorities we feel, as Irish parliamentarians, should be going into the negotiation process. Our No. 1 priority absolutely has to be North-South relations and I appreciate that both witnesses mentioned that point. The Border has become literally a line on a map. A return to a hard Border is not only something we feel would be damaging economically, but it could also have a huge impact on the fragile peaceful situation we have on this island. We have come a long way in a short period, and many people have invested a lot of time and have made a lot of political sacrifices to make that happen. The second priority is the retention of free movement between Ireland and the UK, which has been in place since 1922 and has to remain. The third priority, which I stressed at the start of my contribution, is to maintain the highest level of access to the Common Market for the UK in order to allow us to continue to trade as freely as possible, even though we will no longer be able to trade as freely as if the UK remained within the EU.

I wish to refer to a couple of matters that are a little parochial but which the Irish Government is addressing on a European basis, and we would appreciate it were the ambassadors able to bring them back to their national governments. I refer to the fact that Ireland has applied to be considered as a future location for both the European Medicines Agency and the European Banking Authority. We would appreciate any encouragement from the European representatives in the Irish State to see that these would be great opportunities both for Ireland, the country that absolutely will suffer the most from Brexit, and for these agencies to continue to thrive.

We also have considerable concerns about the latest round of discussions on a common consolidated corporate tax base, CCCTB, and the fact that it is coming back on the agenda. It is a huge issue for Ireland, as I know it is for the Slovak Republic. I fear that if the European centralised authorities and certain larger member states continue to push that, it would be to the detriment of the pro-European feeling in smaller member states across the EU.

Finally, we need to look at how we might do our trade deals better. I was delighted to see the approval of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA, but it was done with much difficulty. The opposition to it is a huge warning ahead of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, TTIP, negotiations, which are in their 15th round. We have no control over what will happen later tonight, but we have to put the EU on the best footing to get as many good trade deals with as many partners as possible across the world. In order to do that, we have to make sure that the European authorities and member state governments approach these trade deals in a new manner to make sure there are increased levels of transparency, communication and buy-in from civic society, as well as the business community and the labour movement.

I thank both witnesses for their presentations.