Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. McGrath for his presentation and opening remarks. I do not have many questions at this stage but I will make a couple of observations and proposals.

I agree with what Mr. McGrath stated, and what my colleagues in the Assembly said, about the importance of tempering our language, given the events of the weekend. That is key. Approaching it in a sincere spirit, my Seanad colleague, Senator McDowell, and I raised this matter in the Chamber yesterday because there are fundamental questions that need to be asked and there are important answers that we need to get. Ms Anderson has raised some of those questions to see whether we could shine a light on matters on our end. I will pursue them as much as I can in Leinster House.

Regarding the news last night and this morning about threats to workers at the Port of Larne, we must ensure that a clear message goes from both our committees that we send our solidarity and support to them. The PSNI needs to pursue the threats vigorously. I agree that, at the heart of this, the protocol and the withdrawal agreement have to be protected. As imperfect as they are, they take priority in this context.

It has been touched on by a number of colleagues that we should probably task officials from both committees to arrange follow-up meetings on these matters, given that there is a great deal of detail and the sharing of a considerable amount of information is required. My colleague, Mr. Jim Gibney, who works with me in the Seanad, says that he prefers to light a candle than curse the dark. We need to light a candle regarding some of these issues in order that we can share information.

With the Covid restrictions, this is probably an ideal time for our committees to engage and work together more regularly in the same way as we are today. To Mr. McGrath, I suggest that we take on the issue of continued access for citizens in the North - by "citizens", I mean all citizens - to schemes like Erasmus+ and the European health insurance card. A proactive approach needs to be taken by the Government in Dublin to ensure that, through committees like Mr. McGrath's, the institutions in the North, the all-Ireland institutions and its own secretariat, people in the Six Counties get information on what all of that means. It was rightly welcomed and much lauded that some of these entitlements would be protected.

I am extremely disappointed that other entitlements, like access to voting rights and seats in the European Parliament for citizens in the North, were to denied to us when the Irish Government had the opportunity to keep them, but sin scéal eile.

From our end, we need to ensure that the Irish Government is engaged in a proper communications strategy and engagement process. I understand and appreciate the Covid dynamics, but it is really required. There is no point telling young people in Ms Sheerin's or Ms Anderson's constituency that they will have continued access to the Erasmus scheme and not tell them how they can avail of it. Similarly, once we get through all this, people will have access to the European health insurance card, EHIC, but they do not know how that system will work. We have been told loosely that people need to keep receipts and all of this kind of stuff. It is important to ensure that we encourage the Department in the South to carry out that piece of work.

People lead busy lives, not least in the current climate, and we often say that we need to follow up, engage and meet more regularly. If we do nothing else, this should be a formal ask coming out of this meeting today and that a particular period of time should not be allowed to pass. As Ms Anderson rightly said, this window of the grace period is a very live issue. It is a moveable feast almost every week. It would do absolutely no harm for us, as members and committees, but more importantly for the public, to engage more regularly and light a few more candles going forward.