Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the ambassador here this morning. The British Supreme Court's ruling on Article 50 found that Westminster is in charge and that there is no requirement for engagement with any of the devolved governments with respect to its triggering. The Good Friday Agreement is of particular concern because, apart from the fact that it is an international agreement underpinned by the British and Irish Governments and the European Union, it has been suggested that legislation will be required in the UK to solidify that agreement under the new arrangements. Has anything been done about that?

I sometimes get a little worried when I meet MPs from Westminster or members of the House of Lords who argue that Britain is leaving the club but is not exactly leaving the playing pitch. One is either in the club or out of it. In my view, the UK has left the club and has left all of the benefits and some of the costs of membership of that club behind. The ambassador spoke about putting citizens first but some British politicians, who have now jumped ship since the referendum, certainly did not put the citizens first in pushing the country towards Brexit. I am particularly concerned about Northern Ireland, where there is no Assembly in place at the moment. We now have civil servants running the North of Ireland on reduced budgets, I might add. Given the likelihood of a failure to put an Assembly in place by Easter, it strikes me that the civil servants will be playing a role for a considerable period of time to come, at least until another election is held and negotiations take place. Who is going to take political responsibility for Northern Ireland, to ensure that it suffers no more and no less than any other part of the United Kingdom?

A question has been asked of me - and I would have to declare some interest in it myself - regarding entitlements to pensions from the UK and to other services for people who served or worked in the UK. How does the ambassador see that working? Such entitlements are very integrated under the European Union but outside of that, will that continue on? It has been part of the Irish, British relationship for generations.

On the issue of the Border, I cannot see any way that a third country outside of the European Union cannot have a border with Ireland. I know that the Prime Minister, Ms May and our own Taoiseach have expressed the desire that we have a border-less relationship but I cannot see a way. The ambassador has been in the diplomatic corps for a long time but I cannot see how one country can sit alongside another and not have a border in place. I see the problem of the free movement of people as one that can be dealt with relatively easily but not so for the movement of goods. Everyone accepts that we need to have a border-less relationship with Northern Ireland but nobody has come up with a solution or an idea as to how that can be achieved. I do not expect the ambassador to outline an idea today but I am wondering if there is somebody in Westminster, Northern Ireland or somewhere in the UK trying to find a solution that will be acceptable to the UK, the citizens of Northern Ireland who wish to be regarded as UK citizens only and the European Union. Whatever the idea, it cannot create a precedent for other countries to try to dovetail into for their own specific reasons. I am thinking here of places like Gibraltar, Cyprus and Catalonia, for example. That is an issue of concern.

There was another issue that I wished to raise but I am afraid I have lost my train of thought. I will leave it at that for the moment but if it comes back to me, I will revert to the ambassador.