Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their input. I am sorry I missed the first part of the meeting; that is the nature of life around Leinster House I am afraid.

We hear much about the common travel area. It is my understanding that there is no legal basis for the common travel area. The two Governments are signing a memorandum of understanding today. What is the likelihood in a post-Brexit world of that memorandum being challenged in the courts? For the first time since the common travel area came into being it will actually be put through judicial review, which may change the entire concept of what we understand as the common travel area.

Professor Harvey has mentioned the exercise in avoidance that has been ongoing. Citizens in both parts of the island signed up to the Good Friday Agreement. We all then clapped ourselves on the back; money was invested in civic groups in Northern Ireland to ensure cross-community co-operation and the provision of training courses and we then all rested on our laurels. To some degree, the peace process became an industry in itself. Somewhere along the line the political side of the peace process dropped the ball. Vital legislation should have been enacted to address the issue of rights mentioned but nothing has been done. Thus, the Good Friday Agreement, a tripartite agreement underpinned by the European Union and the United Nations, may come under the spotlight as we diverge in different directions, with citizens in Northern Ireland becoming the meat in the sandwich as we try to figure out where we are going.

At this late stage, is there a role for the European Court of Justice to compel both states, while still members of the European project, to enact all outstanding legislation? There is one particular issue that has been a bone of contention for me since the Brexit referendum. I believe that while it was within the gift of the UK Government to call a referendum on the island of England, Scotland and Wales, it was not so simple in Northern Ireland because it was part of a tripartite agreement, one party to which was not consulted. Its citizens will suffer the consequences of an action about which they were not consulted. Ms De Souza's case is a case in point. As this late stage is there a role for the European Court of Justice before we lose the United Kingdom to the European Union?

My final question is a throw-away question, but it is one with a serious aspect to it. Is it time to sit down and review the Good Friday Agreement to see if there are parts of it that need to be renegotiated?