Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Although he is not speaking because of time restraints, Senator Richmond was chair of the committee in the Seanad that brought forward a report on Brexit and is very involved with and has a lot of interest in the issues involved. It is also welcome that the meeting is being broadcast live so that people can watch our deliberations. I welcome the MEPs and the Vice President of the European Parliament, Ms McGuinness whom I meet regularly at COSAC meetings. We met recently in Sofia in Bulgaria. She plays a very important role in respect of liaison with all the parliaments. It is a very influential role and the more we have those contacts, the better. The UK was not represented at the last set of meetings in Sofia, which is unfortunate. It is a pity to see that they are moving out already.

In the context of Brexit, we will have to hope for the best and prepare for the worst. That is very evident from the statements today. It is moving very fast. The guarantee of free movement of people between North and South and throughout the United Kingdom must be upheld. Irrespective of what the outcome will be, those are the fundamentals that were discussed at the start. The Good Friday Agreement, in all its facets, must also be guaranteed and honoured by the United Kingdom. That is vital. May I suggest that those extra two seats should, as Ms Anderson said, be located as close as possible to the Border. I am sure our MEPs from that region will agree with me.

The reality is that the text of December is a fudge and is not being put into law because there is no agreement. Let us be quite blunt. It is a most complicated situation whereby the DUP basically has a veto on the British Government. As long as it has that veto, there will be no great agreement in this regard and the talks are not far from collapse at this stage. There is certainly potential for destabilisation of the current British Government as well. The situation is very difficult. Ireland, North and South, will be the big loser. All we can say is that we hope for the best and hope there will be an agreement.

This dialogue could go on longer. I expect that the committee will be with the MEPs in Brussels in due course to follow up. I will ask Ms Guinness to respond briefly. I know we are not going to get answers on all of the points raised. I ask her to keep her response as short as possible. I am very conscious that the European Ombudsman is also here.