Mr. Máirtín Ó Muilleoir:

Gabhaim buíochas le baill an choiste as ucht an cuireadh seo a thabhairt dom bheith leo inniu. Bhí mé anseo ag tús na bliana nuair a sheol an choiste tuarascáil ar chomhoibriú trasteorann. Tá súil agam go mbeimid ag caint faoin ábhar sin amach anseo. Is pléisiúr ar leith é dom an seans seo a bhaith agam labhairt ar na himpleachtaí a bhaineann le Brexit. Ar ndóigh, bhí Port Láirge sa nuacht siocair an triúr fear óg a fuair bás ar na mallaibh. Ba mhaith liom mo chomhbhrón a chur in iúl faoin tragóid sin.

I thank the Chairman for the invitation to attend. In recent days Waterford has been in the news due to tragic circumstances and I extend my condolences to everyone concerned.

The Chairman is newly appointed to her role. I worked with the previous committee on the report on all-island economic co-operation and I hope that we will return to that work again.

On the issue of Brexit, I have detailed notes on the PEACE programmes, the INTERREG programmes and other areas. I will make three brief points initially and perhaps we will cover the other issues when we deal with questions.

The North is staring into a Brexit black hole. I see no opportunities in Brexit for economic improvements, cultural exchange, community uplift or peace building. I have failed to be persuaded by everyone who has said that we are on the cusp of massive opportunities. To avoid that calamity, it is my job, as Minister of Finance, to put in place the measures and actions that will ensure that we do not go over the Brexit cliff and instead find a way, most probably under some type of special case or status, where we continue to enjoy the benefits of European membership in the time ahead, in particular that EU programmes continue.

I make the existential point that the people who live north of the Border want to continue to enjoy the bounty of Europe. The peace process has been a defining happening of my lifetime. It would not have happened without the co-operation, intervention, help, support and assistance of the European Union. In my estimation, the membership of both parts of the island in the European Union has helped the equilibrium of the peace process. The European Union has acted as a guarantor for the peace process and it is essential that this role continues in the time ahead. There is a possibility that the bounty of Europe could be lost to my children, our children and grandchildren. We need to avoid such a calamity.

Recently, I visited the Centre Culturel Irlandais or the Irish College in Paris. On that occasion I was reminded that Europe continues to enjoy the bounty of the entire island of Ireland. It is for those reasons, which go to the very core of our values and beliefs, that we must defend the rights of the majority who voted to remain and ensure they continue to play a full role in the European Union.

My Department is located in the beautiful offices of Clare House that are located on the lough shore in Belfast and it affords me an opportunity to look out of my office window towards Bangor. In the year 590, St. Columbanus left Bangor Abbey to bring Christianity to Europe. He travelled through Scotland, which is an interesting contemporary link, to Gaul that is now known as France, St. Gallen in Switzerland and Bobbio in Italy. Since that period, and beforehand, the people of Ulster have been proud to be Europeans. It would be a massive setback and would close a door on our future if, all these years later when we are supposed to be more sophisticated, forward looking and future focused, we allowed ourselves to be ejected from Europe.

I understand how terribly busy people are, but I hope the Chairman will lead a delegation from her committee on a visit to some of the transformative peacemaking, peace building and bridge building organisations that have benefited from PEACE and INTERREG funding, especially around the Border area but not exclusively on the Border. Right across business, culture and communities the committee will find groups that have deployed European funding to build peace and reconciliation. I hope the members of this committee get a chance to visit some of the groups in 2017.