Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith a Cheann Comhairle, agus a Chathaoirligh fosta dar ndóigh. Cuirim fáilte roimh an tUasal Verhofstadt. He and I met yesterday in my home city of Belfast. In this Oireachtas, I am a member of the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. Those of us in the North who are Irish do not derive our Irishness from the Good Friday Agreement. It, of course, runs much deeper than that. When the agreement was lodged with the EU and the UN, however, it affirmed our legal rights in the eyes of the world as Irish and, therefore, EU citizens. It says that on the front of our passports to remind us.

Mr. Verhofstadt has referenced comprehensively something that we discussed yesterday, namely, the importance of the psychology of citizenship and our place within the world. While our Irish citizenship in the North should never be partial, conditional or second class, nor should our EU citizenship. Mr. Verhofstadt was clear in his remarks regarding a future for EU citizens living in the North, but perhaps he might expand on what that will mean for the EU citizen who is a farmer in Fermanagh, a worker in Strabane or an entrepreneur in Newry. If such people are to access their rights and entitlements as full EU citizens, what will that look like?