Mr. Michael Farrell:

I thank the Chair and Senators. I would like to thank the committee for the invitation to address it on aspects of the challenges that arise from the prospective withdrawal of the UK from the European Union. I apologise, because when I look at it now I see that the text of the presentation that I sent in is dated 27 April 2117. I know that Winston Churchill once remarked that after the cataclysm of the First World War the dreary steeples of Fermanagh and Tyrone still stood above all as the waters of the deluge declined. I sincerely hope that in 2117 our descendants and grandchildren will not still be discussing problems in respect of Northern Ireland. Without being over-dramatic about it, I think that if we do not grasp the issue of Brexit and deal with the problems that it creates in respect of Northern Ireland, it will perpetuate the situation there. We must, therefore, deal with this seriously.

I completely agree with what my colleagues have said about the human rights aspects of this. I am a former chairperson of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and a former member of the Irish Human Rights Commission, so I am really interested in all of that. I strongly support what Professor Colin Harvey said about the joint committee of the two human rights commissions. I was also a member of that. That is a body that has a useful role to play at this particular point in time. Its problem has essentially been that it has not been adequately funded in the past. It would be a good thing for the Government to provide specific funding for that body to be more effective.

Having said that, I will concentrate on a much narrower issue, which is the issue of citizenship. The accord between the UK and Irish Governments, the Good Friday Agreement, contained a specific recognition of “the birthright of all the people of Northern Ireland to identify themselves and be accepted as Irish or British or both as they may so choose”. It went on to say that the two Governments “confirm that their right to hold both British and Irish citizenship is accepted by both governments and would not be affected by any future change in the status of Northern Ireland”. This was remarkably prescient. I do not think this situation was in mind at the time but it is a remarkably prescient and useful comment on that. This was a very significant acknowledgement, by the UK Government in particular, of the legitimacy of the expression of Irish identity and the holding of Irish citizenship by citizens of Northern Ireland. It helped to build confidence in the peace settlement in Northern Ireland and assurance that the settlement was based on parity of esteem between those expressing an Irish identity and those expressing a British identity. Of course, it also involved recognition by the Irish Government of the legitimacy of people in Northern Ireland expressing a British identity.

The effect of the recognition of citizenship was reinforced by the removal of border controls which allowed seamless traffic. That word is used a lot now but there genuinely has been seamless traffic across the border in both directions. I heard something on the radio this morning which said that there are in the region of 900,000 crossings of the Border every month. That has also led to growing familiarity and understanding between North and South. All of this was also greatly facilitated by the membership of the EU by both the UK and Ireland. That familiarity, I believe, has greatly lessened tensions within Northern Ireland and has created an atmosphere of greater normality. It created a sense that there is nothing inherently threatening to other people in a person holding Irish citizenship, nor is it something that should be frowned upon by the establishment, as was probably felt in the past.

If Brexit results in a hard Border or the establishment of immigration or other Border controls, it would seriously undermine the sense of security and acceptance of Irish identity created by the acknowledgement of the right to Irish citizenship and could rekindle a sense of isolation and alienation among those holding an Irish identity in Northern Ireland. I am not trying to be melodramatic and I am not suggesting it could lead to a resumption of the armed conflict or anything like that but it could undermine the institutions that have been set up in Northern Ireland which are already in considerable dispute. We have seen from the recent election results and the attempts to form an administration that there are still great difficulties there. The undermining of the valuable solace that recognition of citizenship has given to a part of the community there could contribute to instability and worsen the divisions there. It would also begin to undo the effect of the growing cross-Border links that have developed over the past 20 years and it would, of course, greatly inconvenience and anger the very large number of people who cross the Border every day to go to work, school or sporting events. The UK Government has said it does not wish to see a hard Border. In fact, it has said in the White Paper on exit from the EU that it wants to see "as seamless and frictionless a border as possible”. However, the problem with that is the qualification "as possible". What is going to be possible and who decides what is possible? The Border will, of course, be a Border between the UK and the EU and there will be pressure on both sides to have immigration controls. Mr. Liam Herrick has mentioned the climate of opinion in Great Britain, the anti-immigration attitudes there and the degree of racism that has been demonstrated since the referendum. There will certainly be elements in Great Britain looking for a very controversial and aggressive anti-immigration policy. There will probably be elements in the EU that do not want to facilitate easy movement between the UK and the EU after the exit. Whatever the British Government says about wanting a seamless and frictionless Border, there may well be difficulties about that.

I would suggest the Irish Government should strongly oppose a hard Border in the interests of protecting and strengthening the peace settlement and in the interest of protecting its own citizens, including its citizens in Northern Ireland given that a very substantial number of persons living in Northern Ireland now hold Irish passports. I looked at the figures. A total of 65,716 Irish passports were issued to applicants in Northern Ireland in the past year. All members know that there has been a huge increase. The number is fairly large in a place with a population of 1.8 million. That is just in one year. Members know that the number of people applying for passports has grown exponentially since the referendum and that almost the entire population of Northern Ireland is entitled to Irish passports if it wants them. In addition the Irish Government as a member of the EU cannot facilitate curbs on the free movement of other EU citizens from Ireland or other EU countries.

How can this problem be resolved? I would suggest that the Irish Government should press for no restrictions on travel between North and South and that any immigration controls the UK wishes to impose should be located at the entry points to Great Britain, that is, England, Scotland and Wales. Residents of Northern Ireland should be able to use normal identification documents such as driver licences rather than passports so that passports are not required to move between parts of the UK. My colleague, Mr. Colin Harvey, has informed me that he does not have a driver licence so he may have difficulty finding what sort of document he could use but I am sure that could be got over.