Ms Martina Anderson:

I thank the committee for the invitation to address it today. I will deal with the questions in three parts. First, I will deal with the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, AFCO, of which I am a member and the co-ordinator. I am also member of the Committee on International Trade, and I am the co-ordinator of my group on Brexit.

On the AFCO committee, I will run through the current position on the files. The committee is the lead committee dealing with Brexit. The right of inquiry is one of the files that is still on our table. It was on the table before the last mandate. Unfortunately, the European Council, of which the Irish Government is a member, is blocking the right of inquiry in the sense of the Parliament having a role in strengthening the power of the Parliament. That said, we have had legal services telling us we could possibly take the Council to court. That is a discussion that is taking place among the co-ordinators and the Chair.

The other objective is to enhance the remit of the ombudsman. As the committee knows, will be voting for the ombudsman in the time ahead.

We are currently doing work, led by me, on a proposal on possible treaty change that will cover climate justice and climate accountability.

Reference was made to the Commissioner's comments on European values. When it comes to the environment and the carbon credit allowing global industries to pay to pollute, this does not meet the values promoted by our group. The AFCO committee will be the lead committee in respect of the receipt of information on Brexit.

On trade, I am a member of the trade committee, on which, along with my colleague, Mr. Matt Carthy, I am working hard on issues relating to the Mercosur agreement. The Dáil has already indicated its opposition to this agreement and Mr. Carthy and I propose to organise a hearing on the matter in the future, on which we will provide information to the committee.

Like Ms Grace O'Sullivan, I work on the Palestinian delegation and previously chaired that delegation. I have been calling relentlessly for the suspension of the association agreement because of the behaviour of the Israelis acting with impunity. The Dáil has supported the occupied territories Bill, which provides that the EU should not access goods made in the illegal settlements.

The Australia-New Zealand trade agreement, which is at an advanced stage, is likely to provide for agricultural access. Mr. Carthy is very concerned about the implications it will have in Ireland. On the question of the difference between us and the other 11 countries referenced, Ireland is partitioned, it has had a conflict and is party to an international agreement that was lodged at the United Nations. I could go on.

Brexit will have profound implications for the island of Ireland. The North of Ireland will be severely damaged by it. This meeting is more than just an exchange of views between MEPs and Members of the Oireachtas or the observer status that exists. This committee should be facilitating the conversation that is well under way, particularly in the North of Ireland, with regard to our future. That is a democratic right. People cannot speak out of both sides of their mouth, in my opinion. They cannot continue to say they are going to uphold the Good Friday Agreement in all of its parts, respecting the democratic provision in that agreement that affords us the opportunity to get out off this train that is going to potentially crash and go over a cliff, and at the same time tell us that we have to remain on it when there is a trigger mechanism in the Good Friday Agreement, an international agreement, and in law in terms of the two Governments having put in statute our right to self-determination. Nine opinion polls have shown that the majority of people in the North do not want to crash out of the EU and do not want to be taken out of the EU.

In regard to Brexit and the backstop, the backstop is the least-worst option, which we have stated repeatedly, but it still drags us out of the EU. We do not want a situation where cows and washing machines have more EU legal standing than people. This is about people. It is about the peace process and the political process. While not speaking for the people of Monaghan, Cavan and Donegal, I would say the last thing they want to see is physical infrastructure being moved onto that part of the island because of a UK crash-out from the EU, with the North being designated a third country. This should not be tolerated and nor should it be expected that the people of Ireland would put up with it. The sum of €1.2 billion in weekly trade supports 200,000 jobs across this island. This list of possible damage is endless. Time does not permit me to go into all of the likely affected areas.

Next week, on 9 October, Matt Carthy and I will launch a report here in the European Parliament by Colin Harvey and Mark Bassett, which sets out the role the EU should be playing, as it did in Germany and Cyprus. They identify all of Cyprus as being in the EU, even though the north of Cyprus is under Turkish control. They set out the role the EU could play in facilitating a calm and considered conversation about the time ahead with regard to when a unity poll should be triggered, what should happen were the outworkings of that poll to be consent across the island - obviously, the consent of the two parts of the island is required - and the role and the work that would need to be done by the EU in planning for the day when the country would be reunited.

Later today, wearing my hat as co-ordinator of the AFCO committee and as GUE-NGL co-ordinator for Brexit, I will meet one of the Commissioner-designates and I will meet another tomorrow. Mr. Carthy will address Commissioner Hogan's appointment. Ireland could have nominated someone that had garnered the support of more of the people of Ireland than he did. Mr. Carthy has been quite vocal on that issue. I could say a lot more but I will leave it at that.