Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I take on board what was said about traffic in Dublin. That is why I visited the ports of Rosslare and Dublin. For Dublin Port, substantial planning has been done and co-ordinated by Dublin City Council. I have checked this matter on a regular basis. One can have all the arguments about rules of origin but the face of Brexit will be a lorry driver stuck in traffic or a fisherman stuck on a boat depending on which flag he or she sails under. This is a crucial issue. The Department of Transport and the Taoiseach have been constantly checking that this is going to be okay. We have been assured that it is but will check it again on foot of what has been just said.

In terms of the location of checkpoints in Dublin Port, a massive amount of work and building has been done on Dublin Port. We are not building it from scratch. Due to Brexit one must place checkpoints on a site that was never designed for them so they are located in different locations, and we must comply with the European Union's customs code. There are a lot of constraints and difficulties in terms of building infrastructure.

Much of what will come by lorry container will be registered in advance and these items are computerised. Essentially, the Revenue Commissioners will check items they believe need to be checked, and they already do that to some extent when looking for contraband etc.

For example, a lorry driver on a ferry coming over here will have an app for this. When the driver sees Tusker Rock lighthouse, a notification will come up on the phone that is green, orange or red. If the notification is green, the driver knows he or she can more or less just go straight off the boat and there does not have to be a physical customs check, although it will be documented. If the notification is red, the driver will have to go to a particular location either in Dublin Port or Kilrane if the driver is coming into Rosslare Port. It is a similar distance in either case, although the driver technically goes outside the port in Rosslare.

It is not the case that every lorry will be checked and much of the checking will be done online. There will be difficulties, including with the checking of animals. Items that would not be allowed into the European Union, deal or no deal, would cause difficulties. We are hoping traffic will not be snarled up but it is a constant issue. I am glad it has been raised here and I will raise it again.

I will not go into the details of the fishing negotiations except to say this is one of the key priorities for us. Economically and on a national scale, this is not a huge element but it is crucial in certain sectors and locations. The Government is acutely conscious of that.

Deputy Haughey mentioned informal alliances. There are quite a few of these. I am not the line Minister so I do not engage directly, but I know from speaking to my European colleagues on items that are important to them that, for example, we are like-minded with a group of 16, mostly small, member states on the importance of the Single Market to us. By the way, that is reassuring to them as well because they want to ensure the Single Market is protected after Brexit. It is very much in our interest.

There was mention of agriculture and France has been a traditional ally on such matters, as members know, and we can also see Spain and Greece in that group. With the fishing issue, there are coastal states affected by Brexit, generally taking in Spain up to Denmark. I certainly know that geography. Portuguese boats may fish in Norwegian waters, for example, so although it is affected by Brexit, it would not amount to the same concerns as ours. I learned this by speaking to my Portuguese colleague.

There is a rule of law group and the committee will be delighted to hear we are a member of that. It comprises Germany and the Benelux countries, and it is a strong rule of law group. It is my intention to remain vocal on the matter. France and the Nordic countries are also strong. These are themes that would also arise in bilateral meetings.

We are also part of a climate group with Nordic and Baltic countries as well as France. I believe a public joint statement was made by those member states and it would have involved the line departments. There is another climate group that includes other countries that may have difficulties in agreeing some matters, but we are on the side of the angels in this regard.

There are informal alliances on policy matters and there are also political alliances that involve our political parties. They are useful in the national interest, so every party is able to liaise with other groups. Fianna Fáil is part of the ALDE group and there is also the EPP group. There is the group for socialists, of which the Labour Party is a member, and Sinn Féin is also in a group. I apologise but the name escapes me. These are very useful engagements for all parties.

It is no harm some to set out some of the health initiatives, if I have time. Everybody has seen that the European Union has played a key role dealing with Covid-19. The joint purpose in the vaccine, for example, will bring major benefits for a small country. There are six agreements either signed or about to be signed, ensuring everybody in the European Union will have access to a vaccine. This is transformative, and it would not be possible for us as a country on our own. There is also travel co-ordination, and there has been and will continue to be financial support. The conference on the future of Europe will support a greater run in public health and health in general.

We are open to exploring these matters. Whenever trade agreements are discussed in the Dáil or in public, or when European Union treaties are similarly discussed, somebody always argues there is a hidden privatisation agenda that will take over all our hospitals and they will all be run for profit over public health. Inevitably, if there is any increase in the competences of the European Union in a health perspective, we will have to deal with the argument. We would defeat the argument successfully, but we will have to deal with it. Such arguments have always been completely false but we can see the European Union working for the public and public health. We are trying to protect each and every one of our citizens through a vaccine, which is very welcome and I hope the public responds positively.

With regard to Senator Doherty's comments on plans in place to continue the relationships with parts of the UK that had hoped to stay, Northern Ireland is officially part of the United Kingdom and we want the strongest possible relationship there. We do not want a border and it is not going to happen. We want the movement of goods to be as free as it always has been. We want people to move for educational purposes, for example. It is one island and I certainly consider it one country. The North-South Ministerial Council has been effectively reactivated and does really positive work. There is much work going in various departments with colleagues from the North, which is really welcome.

The British-Irish Council has been reactivated, which is really useful, as that includes devolved governments from the North, Scotland, Wales and the Crown dependencies as well, including the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. It is a really useful engagement. There is also the shared island initiative that has been set up in the Department of the Taoiseach under the programme for Government. It is really important. The bottom line is that although the United Kingdom is leaving the European Union, it is in all our interests to maintain the best possible relationship. The relationship is in a kind of holding pattern and the plane is flying over the airport, waiting to land, but it has not landed yet. It is in a difficult place currently and there are some very frustrating issues being discussed. The relationship must be reset in the new year and I know this committee and the Government will be more than happy to do whatever it takes to do this.

The ties that bind are incredible and we have so many links. Even last night I retweeted a tweet about a Manx-speaking school in the Isle of Man. Its Gaelic language is a variation of ours. There are many links, with hundreds of thousands of Irish citizens in Britain, so the links must be maintained in all our interests.