Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Ms Gibney said Covid-19 has masked over many of the problems. It is almost hard to imagine that prior to Covid, we discussed Brexit daily for the previous three years. It was the big issue which was taxing people North and South, across the water and beyond in mainland Europe. She identified six priorities for protection of rights on the island of Ireland. One is the continued right to participation in public life for citizens in the North. How do we go about doing that? Has the working group reached a point where it has suggestions or proposals to make around that? That has come up at this committee on a number of occasions and there are differing views. I would welcome some elaboration on that.

The DeSouza case on the right to identify as British or Irish in Northern Ireland, remains largely unresolved. Suggestions have included that a person wanting to access their rights as an EU citizen can simply get an Irish passport, but that is not keeping true to the Good Friday Agreement. Do the witnesses have anything to say on that issue and how we might find a workaround?

There are broader issues around the protection of women's rights and domestic violence. That is something that has come to the fore during the pandemic, and the real vulnerability of women and minority groups is something we should be concerned about. Has the working group come to any conclusions on that that the committee can note for its report?