Mr. Maro? ?efovi:

I thank Senator Martin for his positivity because this is what we need, as well as a look into the future. I assure him that when it comes to contact on Northern Ireland, at the expert level we are in frequent contact with them, and on everything that concerns the implementation of the protocol, we are discussing that with the experts. We are in touch with the Executive. When, for example, that video conference was scheduled, we were in concrete and very intense contact with the Northern Ireland Executive. We very much appreciate, as I said, the great co-operation we have on the ground with the Northern Irish partners and with the Northern Irish police. There are collegial and very friendly relations and a good atmosphere there between our customs and phytosanitary people and their Northern Irish counterparts. There is really a lot going on. The feeling, when I was talking to our people who are working in Northern Ireland, was very positive. It was a mutual learning process, with strong working relationships, with people looking into ways to improve the performance, very often under very difficult circumstances. Therefore, we very much appreciate all the close co-operation on the safety and security of our personnel there. Again, that has been done directly with the Northern Irish representatives and we are very thankful for that.

The Northern Irish representatives are also part of all of our specialised bodies, and I am talking about specialised committees that are there taking part in the discussion. As I said, they are also always intervening in our discussions on the joint committee, where the First Minister and Deputy First Minister always intervene and listen with great attention and great care, working together on finding appropriate answers.

On whom to thank, I can tell the Senator that in those fateful three hours, all of our phones were buzzing and ringing constantly. I know the Taoiseach and also the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, were in frequent contact with all of us and there was intense discussion between the Taoiseach and President Ursula von der Leyen. My very good friend, the Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, would confirm that we spoke at least five times, not only that afternoon and that evening, but also on the Saturday on Sunday and, I would say, every single day until we had that video conference with both representatives of the Northern Ireland Executive. It was very good that a mistake was spotted so quickly and, as I said, within three hours, we corrected it.

My plea here, and I know I am repeating myself, is to look at this against the backdrop of what the EU and the Commission were always trying to do for Ireland and Northern Ireland, all the support for peace, all the support for different projects, how proud we were when we could inaugurate that bridge between two communities, built by EU financial support, and we named it PEACE because that was very important for all of us. There is unwavering commitment for the success of PEACE, for the success of the withdrawal agreement and for proper implementation of the protocol. Of course, we do it with the single objective of stability, peace and prosperity on the island of Ireland. I know it is an enormous task but, here, we would like to work as closely as possible with Ireland, with Northern Ireland and also with our UK counterparts.