Mr. Les Allamby:

We have called for clarity on this area. There was a sense in the December 2017 agreement that this would be a significant set of additional rights. During our discussions, I have had a sense that this ambition is no longer anything like as expansive as originally intended. That is part of the reason we have been calling for clarity on what this means in practice. Access to EU institutions like the European civil service and to EU documents is important but, with the greatest respect, it will probably not be the primary issue for the average citizens. I suspect their primary focus will be on other practical rights like accessing services when they travel to other parts of the EU. The question of the EU rights that people who come back to Northern Ireland will retain within the UK is much less clear, as is the question of what the EU is pushing the UK to do. We have no clarity on those aspects of the matter. It is not for the want of trying. I know colleagues in non-governmental organisations have been pushing this issue without much success.