Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Byrne for her presentation. The purpose of these hearings by various Oireachtas committees is to find solutions. The Irish Exporters Association has called on the Government to engage in various ways. We hope the delegates will supply us with detailed proposals that the committee can put to the Government on measures that could be taken. For example, as the Chairman asked, what should our proposal be to the European Union on transit routes across Britain? Should we propose the use of steel containers? Would there be a precedent for this? We have to make an argument for all of these. How would it work? What can we do?

Is there an argument to be made on trade quotas? What we need are detailed ideas of what our trade quotas with Britain should be. In the 1960s we had a trade agreement with Britain on agriculture which was not entirely favourable to us, but, as the Chairman pointed out, it was our only market and we had no choice. What should be our trade quotas at present day values? We need to state we are a special case in the European Union because this will decimate our agricultural community if we do not have trade quotas between Ireland and Britain. It would also be in Britain's interests because it has a trade surplus. Ms Byrne could not give us in her statement because we simply did not have the time the nuts and bolts of how much we should seek in every sector. In agriculture, manufacturing, clothing and other sectors we should state the trade quota Ireland is seeking. We need to go to the European Union with these details which the Irish Exporters Association have. I am sure the Department also has them. When we go to the European Union, people tell us they are looking for our proposals.

There is an interesting precedent for trade between Northern Ireland and the Republic in what happened between East Germany and West Germany prior to the Berlin Wall coming down. During the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s East Germany was allowed to trade with West Germany without having to comply with European Community law. I do not know whether a blind eye was turned to this trade, but we need details because it would allow us to tell the Germans that they had an arrangement between East Germany and West Germany and that we should be allowed to have one between the North and the South because we are a special case. The phrase "special case" was used when the German trade law was described. Will the Irish Exporters Association provide the committee with more details on what it wants? Unless we go to the European Union with what we want, it will be assumed that we do not want anything. Preferably we need to have it backed up by precedent and existing European regulations and laws, whereby, for example, we can state Ireland is seeking something under a particular directive.