Ms Katie Daughen:

To build on some of the points made about the Ireland gateway to the EU and how we would see this working in terms of the borderless movement of people on the island of Ireland and into the UK, there would have to be more stringent controls within the UK on its access to services and checks would have to take place. There would still be the usual passport checks. As the UK and Ireland are outside the Schengen Agreement, there is removability from it. There would be more focus on access to services, national insurance numbers and the right to work etc. This is where we would see a lot of that control in terms of the UK setting its own migration policy.

Deputy Crowe's question also related to the migration stream. If UK migration policy does get more stringent, the common travel area is being protected by the statements and commitments in the joint report. This refers back to the Ireland Act 1949 in the UK which confers rights on Irish citizens on a pretty much equal basis to those born in the UK. This means that an Irish citizen today can move there and have more expansive rights than someone from, say, France or Germany. For example, I can vote in its national elections. We think that Northern Irish citizens who might identify as Irish will be covered through that and migration policy will not impact on them or their rights. It is interesting to note that the UK's guidelines for citizens of Europe excludes Irish citizens as they are being treated separately due to the common travel area.

On the Court of Justice issue, the EU has international dispute resolution mechanisms with other trading countries that are above what was described about CETA and TTIP. The EFTA court is a prime example. We have not been particularly prescriptive because it is a matter for negotiation but we point to the EFTA court and suggest that this could almost be an add-on to it. What we are proposing could be overseen or it could be some kind of mirroring of it. There are also other mechanisms such as that in the EU-South Korea free trade agreement although generally we are talking about trade when we are talking about international dispute resolution mechanisms.

Northern Ireland and UK citizens will still have recourse to the European Court of Human Rights because that is completely separate to EU membership. This would cover the conditions put forward in the Good Friday Agreement.

Deputy Barrett asked about Ireland losing its influence. It is important to note that even in phase 2 Ireland remains a distinct strand of the negotiations. This means that Ireland has some influence on what the overall outcome will be and this is a clear recognition of the diplomatic work done by Irish officials across Europe and the understanding within Brussels of the Irish-specific situation. While the focus will change, Ireland still has a strong voice within the negotiations.

In terms of what has been agreed on the Border, I suppose nothing has been agreed. The joint report is a political commitment and there is no legal underpinning to it but Michel Barnier has been clear that he wants to provide that legal underpinning as soon as possible and it will form part of the withdrawal agreement. This covers a totality of issues including EU citizen rights and the withdrawal bill. It is important, therefore, that it is given some legal underpinning. Hopefully, it will be done by October in terms of allowing for the timelines for ratification etc.