Mr. Noel Waters:

Thank you Chairman. I also thank the members. Quite a lot was raised in the questions, including issues that cut to the heart of the challenges we face. I will start with what Senator O'Reilly said about the negotiations. I will also invite my colleagues to respond on the same issue. Clearly no formal negotiations can take place until such time as the Article 50 process has been triggered and no negotiations have taken place. Senator Craughwell made a similar point.

This is not to say that we have closed down conversations between the UK and ourselves. We have many fora in which Members of the Oireachtas, the Government, and we as officials are involved. Specifically, in our case, we have the Common Travel Area Forum where we meet with our equivalents in the Home Office every quarter to talk about issues relating to our respective jurisdictions and the common travel area. That process has continued because it relates to the operation of the common travel area. Clearly it would be nonsense for all of us to stop doing that when it is in our respective interests. What has not happened is a formal negotiation which would be triggered after the Article 50 process. We are committed and will remain as part the EU and we will be part of that formal negotiation process.

Picking up on remarks by Senators Craughwell and O'Reilly on the case we have made to the EU Commission, the specific point that we have made relates to Northern Ireland and the unique circumstances around the peace process. We think we have made a very good case to the Commission for the common travel area issues to be addressed in a particular way. Clearly, I am not in a position to say what will happen on that eventually in the context of Article 50 but we believe we have made the strongest possible case, supported at political and Government level by Ministers and the Taoiseach, in stressing very strongly the question of Northern Ireland, the peace process, and that the arrangements that now exist between our two countries pre-date our membership of the EU by a very long time.

We have put our best foot forward and it will be some time in the not too distant future when we will have a better sense of what will happen with that. In the meantime, we will continue with the co-operation that we will need to have with our colleagues in the UK. Thinking of the appalling events in London yesterday, security and police co-operation has never been better. Senator O'Reilly mentioned that. That will continue, Brexit or no Brexit. There are issues around it relating to extradition and arrest warrants which we might return to later, but nevertheless there will be no diminution of the level of co-operation required to deal with matters such as the appalling events which occurred yesterday. It is in everyone's interest on this island, in the UK and around Europe. I have to confess I am not aware of Senator Craughwell's point about people with dual nationality. My colleagues may have further information on this. It strikes me that people who are living in Northern Ireland in that category may be able to apply for Irish naturalisation. That maybe a solution to it. If my colleagues cannot clarify that I will be happy to come back to him on that point.

Senator Craughwell also mentioned education and people travelling back and forward. That easy free movement back and forward cuts to the heart of the common travel area. That is what we want to preserve. We want no change in that. We have made the case as strongly as we can to ensure that continues. I should say our Department relates to the movement of people. Goods and services as they fall under the common travel area relate to the relevant Departments. No doubt, in due course this committee will want to talk to people from those Departments but the common travel area facilitates all those other activities and clearly we have a session in respect of that.

Senator O'Reilly also mentioned non-EU nationals and what might happen after Brexit. Given that we operate a mini-Schengen area within the EU between ourselves and the UK, we police each others' border in regard to non-EU nationals. Immediately following the Brexit vote, there were some remarks - not in this jurisdiction - that were a little wide of the mark, which suggested that we would be operating border controls in respect of the UK in respect of EU nationals. No. That is a red line issue. We simply cannot do that because for us to do so would be a complete deviation of our responsibilities to the EU under freedom of movement. We will not do that and we have made absolutely clear that there are no circumstances under which we will do so. Whether the position changes under the UK's rules after Brexit, the rationale behind the common travel area is that we respect each others borders in respect of the arrangements that other states may make in respect of non-EU nationals. Our systems tend to align very closely. If I recall correctly, and my colleagues might clarify, the only major departure in that area is that we do not have a visa requirement for citizens from South Africa whereas the UK does. That goes back to historic reasons to do with missionaries and religious orders. We work with them around that to ensure that we respect each others responsibilities there. We need to have that assurance from both jurisdictions that when someone is stopped at an Irish border, the person would not also be let into the UK. In fact, uniquely, when an Irish emigration officer stops someone at Dublin airport, for example, one of the grounds by which they can refuse the person entry into Ireland is that the person may intend to travel on to the UK. That is how that works in practice, but I stress that it is in respect of third-country nationals, that is non-EU nationals, and that will remain after Brexit. That is important.