Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guests and thank them for their well-argued and well-supported submissions to us. I do not want to be presumptuous, but I believe that every committee member, including those who are not present, favours a special status for Northern Ireland. The principle is probably agreed and I hope that I am not being arrogant in saying that.

As Senator Mark Daly mentioned, the real question is about what that means. The paragraphs in the witnesses' submission on potential solutions refer to the special status as allowing Northern Ireland "to remain part of the EU". That is one way of putting it. There is another way of discussing a special status for Northern Ireland, and that is a special status for Northern Ireland "in relation to the EU". That is a slightly different idea.

The common travel area is safe and sacrosanct. No one will interfere with anyone's right to cross the Border on a train or bike or by foot. No one will ask who the person is or what he or she is doing. Rather, we are discussing the movement of goods, including agricultural produce. That is the crucial issue.

I will put an idea forward for the witnesses' consideration and ask for their views on it. We do not have to have a single special status with Northern Ireland, for all purposes and in every respect, being "in relation to the EU" in category A or B. It is possible to view agriculture as one aspect of the special status whereas dealings with aircraft components from Belfast could be in a different category. In other words, an all duck or no dinner approach to special status need not be taken. We can have a special status across a range of economic activities and goods.

I am in sympathy with the witnesses' view that, in so far as physical customs checks must be carried out, the most practical way of doing so is on the Irish Sea corridors. When Mr. Michel Barnier visited the Houses, he said that Europe wanted to protect its borders. I did not take him as having in mind hard border checks for all purposes. There probably is not a major problem with saying that the island of Ireland can remain an uncustomed area for the movement of most goods and that, in respect of certain goods only, custom checks can be done on the basis of electronic returns. For example, one would seek prior permission or be registered as a person who moves aircraft components, pharmaceuticals or whatever. When Mr. Barnier stated that the EU wanted an imaginative and flexible approach, I hope that he was thinking along the lines of this kind of suggestion and that the harder Brexit idea is not there.

I will throw those ideas out to the witnesses and seek their responses to same. Regarding special status as a principle, they are pushing an open door with us. The question is, what does it mean or can it mean many things.