Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to see so many familiar faces and the many engagements. All going well with the Covid certificate, Lord Jay of Ewelme is due a visit to west Cork at some stage this summer. We might catch up in Glandore if that is all right with him.

I am keen not to repeat what has been said as I agree with much of it but there are one or two points I wish to drill down on a little more and push a little further. Forgive me if I have missed it, but with regard to the timeline for the work of the sub-committee, will the sub-committee stand for the entire life of this session or for longer? In previous iterations, we had great engagements with the House of Lords EU committee, but also the now-disbanded House of Commons Brexit committee under Hilary Benn. It is a real shame that committee was not retained. I know it is a matter for the House of Commons but we were able to do a lot of good work with it.

I wish to reaffirm the point made by Lord Caine. I maintain that relations are surprisingly good, and have been so throughout this period. We have been able to keep relations civil, even with those throughout these islands with whom we disagree most, and, crucially, disagree without being disagreeable. I stress the importance of and opportunity that lies in improving the bilateral work between Ireland and the UK. I know many of those present are lucky enough to be members of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly. I am really enthused that the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference is to meet next week and the British-Irish Council met last week. I was extremely disappointed that several meetings of the North-South Ministerial Council did not go ahead due to what was, to be frank, a political boycott. That is something of which we all need to take ownership as parliamentarians and really stress the need for those institutions to be non-negotiable. Those strand 3 institutions are so important to the workings of relations on these islands and the Good Friday Agreement, but they also provide an opportunity, particularly on the Irish side, that no other EU member state has to have a level of bilateral relationship that can be quite special and mutually beneficial. I hope we can get agreement. The point has been made on several occasions at this committee that the institutions should be formalised. The British-Irish Council and the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference cannot go years without meeting. They have to meet every time they are scheduled to do so and be put in the diary simply as matter-of-fact meetings. As several people have mentioned, the ability for Irish and British Ministers to have meetings on the margins of European Council meetings is gone. The ability for us, as parliamentarians, to have supplementary meetings at the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs, COSAC, is maintained but they are not necessarily as substantive. We ought to put pressure on Ministers in both Governments, particularly the British Government, for those meetings to be scheduled and take place much more regularly. It would be reassuring if it was the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister alone who attends in future on behalf of the British Government. That would be a good statement of intent.

Many of the issues I wished to raise have been covered. My colleague, Senator Joe O'Reilly, who is from Bailieboro, will be delighted to hear Lakelands Dairy get a shout-out. When I was buttering my toast this morning, I noticed the butter was from Lakelands Dairy. I do not know whether the cow was from Cavan or Fermanagh, but it was good butter regardless. This is about considering the real impact on those who are on the ground in Northern Ireland. All present have acknowledged there are difficulties, which are not being helped by rhetoric from certain politicians, including certain British Government Ministers. I was quite disappointed to hear the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, during a meeting parallel to this one, again say that the protocol will be changed. I must be very critical of Lord Frost, a House of Lords colleague of our guests, for his approach to these issues in recent weeks. It has been unhelpful. I do not see the relevance of his comments or how a person who negotiated these agreements and has had a very respectable career as a diplomat can go into the political arena and trash for domestic audiences something he has negotiated, forgetting that those of us in the EU read and speak pretty good English.

I would look for the actual on-the-ground real impact of the work of this committee, not necessarily the headlines. Some 400 people at a protest in Newtownards can sound very menacing and create a lot of reaction, but what are the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland, unionist, nationalist or other, actually thinking? As many people have said at length, including Deputy Haughey, are people in Northern Ireland looking at the benefits that the protocol provides? That is real challenge for Trevor Ringland in his new role.

I am certainly struck by the repeated comments from Matthew O'Toole in the Assembly. He seems to be beating a very lone drum about wanting investments to come into Northern Ireland to make the most of the protocol. I do not agree, as some people have said, that the protocol is the best of both worlds but it is not a bad situation. Certainly, if a common-sense approach is taken, which many of us at this meeting have demonstrated today, there is huge potential in it.