Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman and committee members for affording me the opportunity to address them. As I know that their time is precious, I promise this will be short and to the point.

It is fair to say and widely acknowledged that no part of the country will be affected more by Brexit than the Border counties. The impact of the referendum result and a hard Brexit will be magnified in County Monaghan which is experiencing Brexit at macro and micro levels daily.

For Monaghan and the Border counties, Brexit is not a concern for two years down the line. It is very much here and now for that community. It is interesting to note that we have had a considerable spike in demand for passports in recent times since the Brexit vote. Last year in 2016, more than 750,000 Irish passports were issued. That is 70,000 more than the 2015 figure, which represents an 9% increase. Of those 750,000 applicants, 68,000 came from Northern Ireland and 64,000 from Great Britain. The numbers from Northern Ireland represent a 26% increase and the numbers from Great Britain represents a 40% increase on 2015 figures. It is projected that these numbers will continue to grow in 2017 and beyond as the devastating realities of a hard Brexit begin to become more exposed.

Public representatives like myself and others living along the Border areas have noticed a huge number of inquiries from citizens living north of the Border about how to go about getting an Irish passport. All this has created extra pressure on the existing passport office. We believe it is timely to make the case to locate a passport office in a place like County Monaghan that would look after the northern part of our country. To give a bit of background, we believe that Monaghan is ideally located from a geographic perspective in that it borders three counties in the North, namely, Tyrone, Armagh and Fermanagh. It should also be noted that Monaghan is located along the N2. As members are aware, citizens travelling from Donegal and Derry must travel through Monaghan on their way to Dublin. It is also a main link from Belfast to the west of Ireland and Galway as that route also travels through County Monaghan. From that perspective, we believe that Monaghan is ideally located. It is more than capable of holding such a facility, being centrally located. It is quite qualified to deliver a sharp, efficient and timely service.

The location of a passport office in a county like Monaghan would send out a positive signal from the Government and would create an economic stimulus for the private sector and for the Border area generally, which as I stated earlier is suffering greatly from the impact of Brexit and will unfortunately continue to do so. The retail and agricultural sectors, particularly the mushroom industry, have been particularly badly hit in the county since the Brexit vote. The fluctuations in sterling have led to serious price differentials for growers, with fears of job losses continuing to grow. Monaghan is probably too heavily reliant on the food sector generally and those jobs are generally low skilled and low paid. As the committee is aware, we are heavily dependent on the UK market for exports.

It is also interesting to note that 85% of all schoolchildren who sit the leaving certificate exams go on to third level education, which is to be welcomed, and 87% of them subsequently go on and qualify to degree level. The only problem we have is that when we do educate them, unfortunately there is nothing for them in their home county to take them home. That is an issue we definitely need to investigate and explore further.

As one can imagine, being close to the Border retail can be particularly difficult. The fluctuations in currency can lead to quite a number of people going to Northern Ireland to shop. Such uncertainty is not good for business and subsequently has an impact on jobs and job retention.

As for IDA visits and inward investment in the county, I am saddened to note there have been something like four or five visits to the county over the past two years. Unfortunately, nothing came from that small number of visits.

The Government has rightly made great noise in recent times about rural Ireland, the regions and the need for their regeneration. The Government has a great opportunity to make a positive statement about rural Ireland. Were it to locate or consider locating a passport office in County Monaghan to service the northern part of the country, it would send out a positive message to the general community and to the private sector. The private sector might then look at this region and at Monaghan as a potential business location in the future.

A hard Brexit potentially would bring further issues in respect of Border crossings and Border patrols. God knows that is the last thing we want to see. A passport office would aid the continued co-operation that currently exists between North and South. I urge the Minister, Deputy Charlie Flanagan, his Department and this committee to give serious consideration to this proposal to examine the possibility of a passport office to cater for the northern part of our country. As I indicated earlier, it would send out a positive statement that the Government is taking seriously rural Ireland, the regions and the future of counties like Monaghan. I thank the Chairman and members for their time and wish them well in their work in the future.