Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Timmermans is very welcome. I have a couple of questions for him. First and foremost, everybody we speak to in Europe talks about the special status for Northern Ireland. Will the witness accept that it is a three-way process that will involve the goodwill of the European Union, the United Kingdom and Ireland in negotiating some sort of special relationship? I feel that it will ultimately be a political solution. Is it the case that the Commission is waiting for the Irish Government to come forward with a proposal and possible solution to that political problem? Would that be the view of the witness, or are we to expect the Commission to come forward with a solution to that problem? If the European Commission is expecting Ireland to do it, is it going to give us the freedom to negotiate bilaterally with the UK in the lead-up period in order to establish what the ground rules are?

Due to the massive trade relationship between the Republic of Ireland and the UK, if we are to remain good Europeans - and I sincerely hope we do - we will need massive support for market diversification in order that we can start to withdraw from the UK market as other non-EU countries start to enter that market, particular in the area of agriculture. There are various other areas as well. We will need support and funding for that process of market diversification to take place and we will possibly need a relaxing of some of the rules with respect to State aid for local industries. The witness will be aware that there are creameries on the Border taking milk from as far north as one can go down to Roscommon. That is a problem for us.

I am interested in the Commission's role in representing Ireland. I know that Ireland will have a place at the table. How important is a tiny little island on the periphery of Europe? How do our needs fare in the Commission's thinking? We talk about forging new partnerships with governments. However, it is not governments that I am concerned about. I am concerned about the people on the ground. The rise of populism is coming from the people on the ground. In this country, a lot of people feel that we were hung out to dry in order to save the economic community and the euro as a result of the financial collapse. The collapse occurred right across Europe. We talk about the recovery in Ireland, but many people here feel that we carried the major burden.

Whatever about forging partnerships with parliaments, what plans has the Commission in place to forge partnerships with people on the ground? This would mean supporting new infrastructure in Ireland through the European Investment Bank and providing direct access to Europe without having to cross to the UK, which would mean developing our ports or a new highway to Europe, if the Commission wanted to do so. I would be interested in the witness's comments on that.