Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. The update today has been comprehensive and helpful. It gives the committee the benefit of being able to have this kind of conversation. I have two brief questions. RTÉ today reported that many thousands of businesses across the island have indicated they are unprepared for post-Brexit trading realities. What is the likelihood of a grace period post 1 January to allow some of those businesses to allow for a gradual shift to the new, post-Brexit reality to which the Minister earlier spoke?

I appreciate the update from the Minister on things such as the European health insurance card and I sincerely hope that issue is resolved. If it is not, has an oven-ready plan been put in place?

Does it include a communications strategy to let people in the North know how the process will work? I assume that there will be a number of communication strategies to convey the information.

The Minister should think about the following matter, on which I have engaged with him previously. As we move through this Brexit period and edge ever closer to 1 January, regardless of the outcome, there is an increasingly strong argument and rationale for the Irish Government to consider providing a service or facility that will meet the requirement of Irish citizens and EU citizens in the North. We know about the controversy surrounding the British Government's refusal of an EU presence. The Irish Government, through the Department of Foreign Affairs has, through its secretariat, space in Belfast, for example. There will be a range of Irish and other EU citizens who will want to and will be entitled to engage with the Irish Government - and with the EU structures through the Irish Government - whether that is in respect of the European health insurance card and its complexities or of the Erasmus programme, as the Minister has noted, or of passports, as other colleagues have mentioned. We need a one-stop-shop or a signposted satellite service that can work to meet the needs of citizens. It is all well and good to have plans in place but people will need to avail of them, understand them and communicate them. If they are in the North, they will need a very direct interface with the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Irish Government. There is a genuine and clear rationale for providing such a service. I ask the Minister to consider my proposal outside of everything else that he is dealing with at the minute.