Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

When we met last March when I went to the UK to meet the then Minister, Esther McVey, the principle we agreed would be set out in the convention was that we wanted to continue doing exactly what we have been doing for donkey's years. Officials from my Department and her department finessed that agreement and finalised it towards the end of December. That agreement was signed on 1 February. The agreement was part of the withdrawal agreement so it was detailed in protocol 20 that we were to do this and we had the blessing of everybody so that in the event of a deal, there would be an orderly transition on continuing to legally do what we have always done with each other's citizens for a long time. In December, when things looked a bit ropey and it looked like there might not be an orderly Brexit, the Government decided that we needed to put in contingency plans regarding the common travel area we want to continue to enjoy after a no-deal Brexit. That is where this piece of legislation came from.

We started to draft the heads of the Bill to replicate everything that was in the convention, which is to have exactly the same status quoon March 30 as we have on March 29. We started that in December so that in the event of a no-deal Brexit this new legislation would give me the legal basis to continue to pay what we have been paying. Since we started drafting that Bill the convention was completed and signed off on 1 February. We have now discovered that since the convention processes have started in this Parliament and in the UK Parliament I actually do not need section 11 of the Bill. Because the ratification process had started in both parliaments, and because there is the goodwill and intention to complete it even if it is not completed by the Irish or the UK parliaments before 29 March, I can by regulation legally instruct my Department to continue paying as can the new Minister in the UK, Amber Rudd, legally continue to pay, because we are in the process of ratifying. In essence, because we have started the ratification process I do not need the double surety of the legislation I thought I needed. We will finish the ratification process today and the committee will send a message back to the Dáil. That is our part done.

The process in the United Kingdom is slightly different in that they must lay their convention before the Houses for a 21 day cooling off period. This is to allow their MPs to make submissions, objections or enhancements, or just comment on it, to the Privy Council. The Privy Council is meeting on 13 March and the cooling off period finishes on 19 March. If there are no changes to be made they will ratify their convention on 19 March or thereafter. If all of that happens then we do not need to worry about anything. If it does not happen, then I and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in the United Kingdom, Amber Rudd, will both have to sign a regulation to say that given that we are in the middle of this ratification process, which has not yet been completed, we will sign regulations to allow us to continue paying what we have always paid until the ratification process is legally binding - because we know it will happen within a matter of days or weeks of the exit date of 29 March. It is most likely that while I will go ahead with section 11 of the Bill it will not be needed to commence, but I will have to go ahead with section 12 with regard to the insolvency requirements and securities that are needed around that. I am aware that it is a little odd, but the situation we are in is very odd. Either way, I want to guarantee that on 30 March and thereafter people will have the securities and the rights exactly as they had on 29 March, regardless of which mechanism we use to ensure those rights are continued on 30 March.