Ms Mairead McGuinness:

I thank the Senator. There is no need to apologise. I can assure him I have had my fair share of technical hitches so we are all in the same boat. The Senator asked me to explain why the protocol is necessary. I stressed in my opening remarks that, in a way, the issue of Northern Ireland was not given sufficient attention when the decision to call a referendum was taken or during the campaign. I was still a member of the European Parliament at that time and my office was an open door in the context of representations from Northern Ireland because Northern Ireland had no voice. There was a real sense at that time that Northern Ireland's position was not getting enough of a hearing. I tried my very best to offer that.

At a wider level, we all know we need to engage more. The European Parliament, for example, needs to engage with the Northern Ireland Assembly. We need to have political conversations or chats to ease tensions. That is hugely important.

The Senator said that stakeholders are supportive of the protocol. It seemed to me that stakeholders who were supportive were a little concerned about expressing that publicly because of fear that it was not the story that was politically acceptable at a higher level in the United Kingdom. The business community now sees the opportunities of being rightly a part of the UK, with free-market access, and with equally free access to the market of the European Union. There are considerable opportunities in that regard and that is why we continue to say we need full implementation of the protocol to harness the potential opportunities that arise from this unique situation. There have, equally, been challenges and that is why if there were a deeper level of engagement, we could sort out those challenges. Let me be clear, if not blunt, when I say that when one signs something with a counter-party, one expects it to be implemented, not to be torn up. We are not sure whether the UK is actually committed to implementing it in full and would need clarity from the UK side on that. I read in opinion pieces, etc., that there is almost a suggestion the problem has been made by Europe because we forced the United Kingdom to sign the protocol. In fact, we favoured the Theresa May option but the UK and Boris Johnson chose otherwise.