Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Collins. I am sure she is being modest. I wish her the best of luck in her new role. It is great to have this opportunity to engage with her, Ms Farrell and Mr. Gardner. We did not foresee when we set up this meeting that it would be so timely. We are all acutely aware of the political happenings related to this. We want to be cautious and make sure that we do not do anything to disrupt that process in any negative way.

I ask members to indicate if they have a question but I might come in first. There is quite a lot in that. The witnesses have done a good job in putting together a succinct document. It is all factual and every sentence is relevant. It is a good opening statement and briefing document. We might just break the discussion into two sections, first the withdrawal agreement and then the trade and co-operation agreement, TCA. We might first focus on the withdrawal agreement, which currently is the main topic for discussion. We are probably realising more and more how important it is to have those dispute resolution mechanisms. While we hope that we never need to use them, they could be one of the more lasting things that stay with us when we move to the next phase of Brexit and the phase after that. This will obviously be an ongoing process for many years.

On the withdrawal agreement and the specialist committee, the witnesses should give a little more detail on how that works. The Irish delegate has an opportunity to speak. In the witnesses' opinion what is the strength of that? Is the delegate's view heard? At present, Commissioner Šefovi is representing the European Union, both overall and in the committee, and then there is the UK representative. There has been an accusation previously that there is a lack of democratic oversight in terms of an elected person who could represent Ireland's interests. Obviously therefore, this delegate is important to us in having our views heard. To what extent does this delegate make his or her views known and to what is the strength of that? What does that mean in practical terms? If we have a dispute with all of the different agendas at play and all of the different wants and demands at play, how protected are we to make sure that in ten or 20 years’ time, we will be able to protect Ireland’s interests?