Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests for their replies. I aim to explore the issue further. I am a little conversant with the views expressed by the various political parties in the UK in anticipation of the general election, which will be a Brexit election whether we like it or not. Words appear time and again to the effect that, when this is over, the UK will be a much better place and it will be able to make free trade agreements and arrangements with various other states at will. That message is being spread about in the UK currently. My worry is that it might create an expectation in the course of the general election that could lead to people concluding that, when Brexit is agreed, part of the deal will be to renegotiate everything. That cannot happen. Were it to happen, each country within the EU would the next morning decide to leave and seek similar arrangements. That would leave us at a serious juncture. I do not believe we are there. The EU has an obligation to stand firm.

Otherwise, why not take France, Spain, Italy and various other countries and let them have free trade negotiations with whomever they wish to seek at will? Then the European Union would fall and that cannot be allowed to happen, any more than the Good Friday Agreement can be allowed to falter at this stage. Mind you, it is amazing to listen to some commentators, not necessarily on the island of Ireland, discussing the Good Friday Agreement and stating it was really an issue from which we were moving on. We in this country cannot afford to move on from the Good Friday Agreement and all it entails. If we were to give that type of signal we would find ourselves in a very precarious position, and not only the EU but also the UK would, unfortunately, have to suffer the consequences, and I do not have to enumerate what they might be. We have enough evidence on this already.

To move on to the next part, mention has been made of goods originating in the UK en route to Ireland or via the UK from other jurisdictions. The committee has spent considerable time discussing these particular issues. We have been given an assurance to the effect there will be a smooth transition in the transport of goods and that provision has already been made for the smooth transportation on alternative routes to ensure patients in this country are not in any way discommoded, disadvantaged or put at risk. Are the witnesses satisfied this can continue? The duty of the Irish Government and the European Union is to ensure the alternative provision of the services we already enjoy within the European Union and that we do not become at risk of losing some of those services or putting patients at risk as a result of a change by one country leaving the Union. For instance, if Belgium or Holland left the European Union, one would expect the same to apply. We cannot afford to put our patients or people at risk as a result of this and I hope this will not be the case. I am a little concerned there might be a feeling in some political quarters that when the general election is over in the UK and the Brexit reality begins to dawn on the horizon, there will be a situation that can evolve in a way that has not been anticipated. That cannot happen. If that were to happen the European Union would cease to be.