Ms Liadh Ní Riada:

Go raibh maith agat. I am sorry that I will not be able to stay for the whole meeting. It is very important that we have a cohesive approach when we are dealing with Brexit from the national Parliament, Dáil Éireann and from an EU perspective. I sit on the European Parliament Committee on Budgets, BUDG, as a co-ordinator and the picture for the future is not looking good at all. We are currently discussing the multi-annual financial framework, MFF. Commissioner Oettinger said this morning that they are looking at a 15% cut to the CAP. This is not a big surprise but in real terms it is a cut of €60 billion. How will we shore up that gap when the cut is actually implemented? They are also talking about cuts to cohesion policy or aid to more developed countries, of which Ireland was a beneficiary. This cut will be about €95 billion. It seems to be cuts right across the board due to the debts we now see because of the British going out. How are we going to shore this up? I spoke with representatives from the European Investment Bank yesterday and they spoke of having a €300 million reserve fund in place as a measure to protect us against Brexit. I do not believe it is enough. It is a start and it may be a step in the right direction but we need to be more creative in how we are going to use more strategically the funds that are there to help those who are most vulnerable; those in the agriculture and fisheries sector. Fisheries seems to be very much an industry that is not being talked about. Ireland will be providing most of the waters when the British waters are out of the equation. Those displaced boats will be coming in to fish from Irish waters and Ireland will still be dealing with the same quota. There are huge challenges for the fishing industry, which is already on its knees, and I do not believe it is going to improve after Brexit - not by a long shot. We have to put absolute safeguards in place to protect and sustain our fishing industry. The MFF is a huge worry. Given that we will have less money, the bottom line is that we will do more, or the same, with less money or that member states will be asked to contribute more. It is as simple as that. These are the two options. We must be very robust in how we deal with the MFF, particularly at Council level and with regard to Ireland's representation there so we do not suffer hugely when we see the CAP. I am aware that Ms Anderson and Mr. Carthy will probably speak more about trade and other issues but I just wanted to give the committee a heads up from the budget perspective. Fágfaidh mé mar sin é.