Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will now pass to Deputy Richmond. Without intervening at this stage, I will say there has to be some clarification. There is an acceptance that the President, Ursula von der Leyen, apologised for triggering Article 16. I know that the language being used today is that it was never activated. We all accept that it was not fully implemented but there has to be an acknowledgement that Article 16 was triggered. We are grateful for everything the European Union and our partners have done to get us to where we are in terms of the Northern Ireland protocol and the deal that was done, but we are trying to focus today on the process that led to the decision that Friday afternoon.