Ms Emma DeSouza:

Yes. I thank Deputy Adams very much. I certainly appreciate the points he made around practical assistance which, of course, would be very welcome. It is a very difficult case for me and my husband to pursue for such a long period without any financial assistance or support.

I also want to address the point the Deputy made about paragraph 52 of the political declaration. I agree that the fact that it did not make it into the withdrawal agreement is a failure. As a citizen, I do not understand why that happened. This ties into another point around citizens' rights. We know that it falls entirely within the remit of Ireland to extend MEP seats to the North. As a citizen, I do not understand why that option is not being pursued. In the Brexit negotiations, we are seeing a watering down of rights. The fact that, under the withdrawal agreement, Northern Ireland born Irish citizens cannot access the EU settlement scheme whereas all other Irish citizens can is almost a breach of the agreement before it has even come to pass. There are definitely big concerns to be raised about negotiating those rights.