Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses very much. I find myself increasingly engaging with Senator McDowell and it is always a cause of deep concern for me when I do that, but I must take issue with one point he made, which was lumping in my party with the DUP and the Tories on Brexit. He must not have heard my colleague, Conor Murphy, the Minister of Finance in the North, talk about maximising the outcomes for everyone in the current situation. While I accept there has been a huge level of politics at work, which has not been helpful to the British Irish Chamber of Commerce and the members it represents, it is part and parcel of the situation that some issues have been greatly exaggerated. There is a concerted determination to ensure any hiccups that businesses and other agencies encounter are smoothed over. It is also important that when we make that legitimate and fair point and observation, we also reaffirm that the protocol is there for a reason. The protocol is very important, and it is not going anywhere and should not go anywhere for all of the reasons we all know and do not need to rehash here.

The difficulty in coming to the meeting at this stage, which I am sure the witnesses understand, is that a lot of the big questions have been asked already so I do not want to force them into a place where they have to rehearse all of that. Has Mr. McGrane been involved with the Dublin-Belfast economic corridor initiative and where does he see his role within that work? Where I agree with Senator McDowell and others is the imminent need for improved infrastructure, whether it is the A5 or an improved frequency of rail connection between Belfast and Dublin and everything that goes with the economic corridor initiative. I would like to hear how Mr. McGrane sees that in terms of his work and how he is engaging with his members on it.

Mr. McGrane touched on the supply chains and companies reorientating here on the island in terms of companies from the South supplying into the North. Is he advising organisations to do that and is he able to support them? This is a question we have asked of other organisations in terms of how best they can maximise the opportunities that come about as a result of the protocol.