Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the members of the Committee for the Executive Office for making themselves available. This committee, no more than the Committee for the Executive Office, has been looking in some great detail at the outworking of the withdrawal agreement and, more particularly in recent times, the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. An array of logistical and practical issues need to be outlined, sorted and addressed and there are structures within the agreement to do that. I am optimistic that those structures can resolve most of the issues in question.

One of the things this committee has been most interested in is the interpersonal relations post Brexit and how we do not allow structures that existed in the past to diminish. Northern Ireland institutions must maintain a presence in and link with European Union institutions, specifically because decisions made in the European institutions will continue to have an impact in Northern Ireland. Is it envisaged that some of the suggestions made by Barry Andrews, MEP, would be implemented? For example, he has suggested that there would be an enduring presence for a number of Northern Ireland institutions within the structures of the European Union. Is the Committee for the Executive Office working on that, has it opened discussions on it and how does it see matters panning out?

There will be a requirement for a close North-South working relationship too. The primary role up to now has been through the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly, BIPA, both east-west and North-South. Does the Committee for the Executive Office see BIPA continuing to be the main vehicle for that sort of interpersonal relationship and can we improve on it?