Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his engagement with this committee and his proactive role on civil dialogue and the break-out sessions. They have been very informative, especially in his dealings with Oireachtas Members on a personal basis regarding many of the minor items while the major issues such as Brexit are pressing. It would be remiss of me to not mention the Narrow Water bridge project as one of those minor issues given the problems we are in.

The Minister said we are at a critical phase. I would go further and say that chaos, confusion, the lack of credibility and lack of coherence are the order of the day, particularly with the Brexiteers who just do not seem to get what the Border issue is about. The Minister spoke of the complexity of the legacy issues. I will refer to one issue that I believe could be solved, from a southern perspective, quite simply. Witnesses who have been in to the committee have referred to some 80 or 90 families who have been impacted by the Troubles from a southern perspective. One of the issues that came across clearly was that these families are not being dealt with in a similar way to those in the North who also suffer from legacy issues. These families are being referred through the HSE. The Minister spoke of trauma issues but I believe there is a need for some status to be set up for those families who have legacy issues, from a southern perspective. I will leave the Northern issues for others to comment on.

I will now move on the substantive issues. As co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement, how does the Minister intend to ensure that the institutions, the values and principles, will be upheld and respected through the process of the UK's withdrawal and beyond? INTERREG and PEACE programme funding is very important to the Border communities. We have heard all sorts of promises about it lasting up until 2020 with Brexit in place. Have we found a mechanism to ensure that these important funds for those communities North and South will continue and are enhanced? We were told in Belfast, for example, that much of the money has not trickled down to the communities there and that there is much work to be done.

The task force paper makes it clear that it is the UK's responsibility to propose a workable solution for the Border. The British appear to have moved from the technical solution of recent months or years towards a unique solution, a phrase that I have continued to use for many a day since Brexit was proposed. What does the Minister see as this unique solution? In recent days we have heard suggestions of a Canadian style format. Everybody has stated that they wish to avoid a return to the hard border of the old days, and the wish to maintain the common travel area.

A research paper carried out by the European Parliament states that there will be a need for a customs and border solution post-Brexit on 29 March 2019. This is regardless of the political solutions and the results of the Brexit negotiations. If such a customs and border solution is not designed, developed and implemented to facilitate the movement of people and trade it will have severe consequences. The paper also concludes that it is possible to implement a customs and border solution that meets the requirements of the EU customs' legislation and procedures - with expected post-Brexit volumes of cross border people and goods - if using a combination of international standards, global best practices and state-of-the-art technology, upgraded to a smart border or a similar such solution. Will the Minister indicate if the Government has given any serious thought to how this could operate, with the myriad of roads along the misquoted sieve of 500 km of border? In recent days we have been hearing that the Irish Border issue is likely to scupper a deal on Brexit.