Mr. Karl Gardner:

From tomorrow, if our understanding is right, we will see a set of proposals from the Commission that will address a number of these issues so that they will be better informed and engaged through the process. At a political level, the Taoiseach, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and so on, are constantly engaged with the parties in Northern Ireland, and not just the parties but also civic society, and business groups to make sure that what we are hearing also feeds into the Commission in the work we spoke of earlier, ensuring that the Commission is aware of what we are hearing on the ground.

Much of this not only falls on the Commission and the EU side; the UK can also decide how it will engage and bring certain elements of Northern Ireland, whether politics or civic society, into the debate as well. It is not purely an issue for the EU to solve, the UK also has capacity to do it.