Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Verhofstadt is welcome. If history has taught people in Ireland anything over the centuries, it is that Ireland disproportionately suffers from belligerent British foreign policy. I welcomed Mr. Verhofstadt's statement that Ireland must not pay the price for Brexit. Those were fine and well-meaning words, but we need practical measures to ensure that it does not happen.

There has been much discussion of the Border and the Good Friday Agreement, and rightly so, but I do not want Europe, Mr. Verhofstadt, his team or the European Parliament to lose sight of the fact that there is €60 billion worth of trade between Ireland and Britain every year, underpinning hundreds of thousands of jobs. The Border is crucial, as are business and people's livelihoods. What are the practical measures? Our party has proposed a European reform fund to support exposed areas and sectors at a European level. Our agrifood industry has lost nearly €800 million from the value of its exports, but it is just one of many.

Mr. Verhofstadt understands the situation and I welcome his visit today as well as his visit to the Border, but let us not lose sight of the hundreds of thousands of jobs in Ireland underpinned by, and dependent on, the €60 billion in trade with our nearest neighbour.