Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 21 October 2020

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs

Brexit Negotiations: Members of the House of Lords

Photo of Regina DohertyRegina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the contributors for their very insightful comments. I just want to follow up on something that was said by Senator Chambers and Deputy Howlin. It is really remiss of us at this late stage not to have planned what our interactions, as states and really important neighbours, are going to look like. We have had a really easy relationship at European Council meetings. Some of us here have had the privilege of attending same in recent years. I can only speak from experience but when I was new to the European Council, the first person I went to was my British counterpart, even though I had never met her, because I felt and thought, given the easy relationship between our countries, that she would be friendly and nice to me, and of course she was. We are going to miss that hugely. We will have no formal interaction other than through the British-Irish Parliamentary Association. We do have the North-South Ministerial Council, but with so many decisions being made at Westminster about what happens in the North, we should have formal engagements.

Deputy Howlin is right about the concerns if things do not go well, although I really hope they do. I am really impressed by the pragmatism of everyone who has spoken this morning in terms of what we expect in the coming weeks, but if things do not go well, on 1 January we are going to find ourselves in a "he said, she said" scenario and none of us wants to be the one who gets the blame. That is not the ideal environment for what has been a hugely fruitful, enjoyable and harmonious relationship for the most part for as long as we have been neighbours. Somebody should be thinking about that now and starting that process rather than waiting until we find ourselves with a thin Brexit, no deal, an Australia-style deal or whatever. That is not the best environment for us to continue our enjoyable, fruitful, partner-based relationship for the future.

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