Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the former Taoiseach, Mr Bertie Ahern. His experience, as has been outlined, is invaluable. If he were in a negotiating position now, where would he be aiming to start his negotiations on our behalf? While my experience would be more akin to horse trading or cattle dealing, I presume when one goes into these types of negotiations that it is a similar concept where one goes in with a high target to achieve as high a position as one can. Where should we be aiming in these negotiations?

Being only one of 27 EU member states involved in negotiations is a problem. How can we get a position of stature within that 27? Mr. Bertie Ahern rightly pointed out and we welcomed the fact we got individual and special mention in both Theresa May’s letter and in the European response. They were kind and good words, words of recognition. At the same time, Spain got a veto on Gibraltar. Why so? The population of Northern Ireland is 1.8 million, while the population of Gibraltar is 30,000. Mr. Bertie Ahern highlighted the Good Friday Agreement as an example. While the nice words were welcome, they are just that. Has Spain not stolen a march on us? How can we protect employment of both parts of the island, North and South? At the end of the day, this is going to be about jobs when the negotiations are done. Does Mr. Bertie Ahern feel that we as a nation and a negotiating team should be pressing for the trade talks to take place simultaneously with the divorce talks, for want of a better word? We are in an unstable position within the EU while the talks are going on because of the currency issue and how the money markets are reacting. Would Mr. Bertie Ahern agree we should get the trade talks and the divorce talks to happen simultaneously?