Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for joining us and it is good to see them all again. I thank the UK committee for the work that it has done on the Northern Ireland protocol, the common travel area and for its ongoing engagement with this committee. All of that work is very much appreciated.

On the message that we heard yesterday by the British Government on the withdrawal agreement, there is speculation in Irish media circles that the British Government moved on that because of the incoming Job Biden Presidency in the United States. As we know, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney, went to Washington earlier this year as, indeed did the UK Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, to discuss this situation. President-elect Biden did say that there can be no trade agreement if the Good Friday Agreement is interfered with or a hard border is reintroduced on the island of Ireland. Obviously we await details but the matter is being talked about in media and political circles here. Do the witnesses think that influenced the decision by the British Government yesterday on the Northern Ireland protocol?

This morning, both committees have spoken here about the British-Irish relationship. Obviously it is very important to develop and enhance that as Britain leaves the European Union. We have the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly; the British-Irish Council that was set up under the Good Friday Agreement that involves the Governments and Executives on these islands; and the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference that was set up under the Good Friday Agreement as well at Government level.

Last week, the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister agreed to begin work on a strategic review of the Irish-British relationship. This will set out structures and frameworks for building on east-west engagement and co-operation in the post-Brexit landscape. The need to develop structures for formal engagement between the Taoiseach and the Prime Minister at ministerial and official level to formalise co-operation across a suite of policy areas is also mentioned. That is a very welcome initiative by the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach, one we should all feed into, including this committee, the UK select committee or a sister committee in the House of Commons. The Oireachtas will need to engage in that as well. As I said, it is a worthwhile initiative to build on the existing structures and to develop new structures. As parliamentarians, we should all have an input into that.

My second question is the same question raised by Deputy Howlin. If there is no trade agreement this week, is it not obvious that many of these issues are back on the table on 1 January and that they will have to be dealt with? I presume the witnesses would agree that we are going to have to deal with the issues of fisheries, trade, aviation and so on at some stage. Brexit is not going away. Would it not be better to deal with these issues this week rather than have the negotiations ongoing for years?