Mr. Michael Farrell:

I am sure the Senator is not, but it may be a question of emphasis on what the urgency is about this. We are now into speculation but given that there will be an election in the UK, there are sections of the Conservative Party that would want a hard Border against European Union nationals and not just third country nationals. There has been a great deal of controversy in Britain and a great deal of very unpleasant media comment about EU citizens who come to work in Britain such as Poles, Romanians and so on. There is, undoubtedly, a climate of racism on the fringes of British politics. It is not at all impossible that there could be a British Government still pushing for much stronger and more restrictive policies. We must be very clear in saying that this is not acceptable, especially in terms of the Border between the South and the North.

With regard to the question of resigning from the European Convention on Human Rights, and perhaps my colleagues have been saying this, there is no doubt that it is the policy of the Conservative Party to replace the Human Rights Act with its proposed British bill of rights. There are also sections of the Conservative Party, including the Prime Ministers in the past, that want to leave the European Convention totally. That is also something that we cannot assume will not happen. We must argue for the position that the UK should not do that.

It will also be important to say to our European colleagues that the Charter of Fundamental Rights applies to the European Union itself as well as to the member states, a point made by the Senator. In the negotiations this also applies to the values in the charter and, therefore, in conducting the negotiations with the United Kingdom about its leaving, there are obligations on the European Union to try to ensure it protects the rights of European Union citizens. The rights of British citizens must be protected but, in particular, the rights of European Union citizens, who are the EU's own citizens, must be protected. In Northern Ireland, we have the special case where a very substantial section of the population is will continue to be European Union citizens. The European Union has a responsibility to try to ensure that their rights, as protected in the European Union, are also protected in the leaving of the Union.