Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We can definitely say that was Deputy Calleary's idea and that it is absolutely necessary.

In fairness, when the Minister, Deputy Coveney, spoke about his conversations and engagement with business interests, he said that a huge amount of them were unionists and that their concentration was on working the protocol and just delivering. As was said earlier, businesses are all about getting the job done or it does not work out. It is as simple as that. Ideology rarely comes into it.

I will also follow up on the point about bringing Maroš Šefovi into the discussion. I was told that during the debate on the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement and, obviously, the conversation around all the resolutions, Mr. Šefovi stayed and commented on a number of matters. We are talking about a four-hour debate, which I am sure was absolutely stimulating at all points. Chris MacManus told me that one of the points to which Mr. Šefovi returned related to Northern representation. He obviously accepts the point regarding the democratic deficit and is open to that conversation. It would do no harm to follow through on that.

Let us be clear on the issue regarding unionism. For a long period, unionists have rarely moved beyond the lowest common denominator, no matter the issue. I hope we will see in the future, which Mr. McGrath put well, a unionist leadership that accepts the reality of the world in which we live and that can then deliver for its own people to a greater extent.

I want to follow up on the question of the protocols and modalities that exist for dealing issues as regards the Irish protocol and the engagement of the Executive. Obviously, there are a greater number of methodologies for dealing with problems since the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement has been put in place. Are the witnesses reasonably happy that the means exist to deal with the problems?