Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Like my colleagues, I would like to begin by acknowledging the Commissioner's level of engagement in the North. Being from the North of Ireland and being elected to the Seanad, I am very conscious of that level of engagement. I am conscious of the importance of that. It is important that we take the opportunity at this meeting today, as a committee, and indeed as Members of the Oireachtas, to reiterate the fact that any triggering of Article 16 would create a huge level of uncertainty and instability in a period that is already unstable and uncertain, and I acknowledge the earlier remarks about the language being toned down slightly, but if it is, it is only slightly. David Frost told the House of Lords that peace in the North could be at risk if the EU were to retaliate in what he called a disproportionate way. He also said that the huge increase in trade North to South was a problem that needed to be solved. It is important that peace in Ireland is not a commodity. It is not to be traded 23 years off the Good Friday Agreement, which is a cornerstone of the peace process. It is important to make the point that the people of Ireland are going forward; they will not be dragged backwards. Those kind of threats and that kind of rhetoric around the protocol is being translated into street disorder in recent times around Belfast, the city that I live in. That has to be condemned and it is important we all take the opportunity to do that again this afternoon.

It is worth pointing out that the majority of people in the North voted to remain. They voted against Brexit. A majority of political parties, a majority of our society and a majority of the businesses the Commissioner is no doubt engaging with all see Brexit as the problem and see the albeit imperfect protocol as a protection against that problem, which was not of our making.

In the context of the questions I will ask, it is important to understand that the British Government is continuing to act in bad faith. It is breaching trust, acting irresponsibly with the peace process, flouting international law and using inflammatory and incendiary language. Our people and our society, as well as the gains of the Irish peace process, cannot be taken for granted or become collateral damage in whatever is playing out within the Tory Brexit shambles. That is why it is so important that the Commissioner has been engaged so regularly and consistently. I am also conscious of further international solidarity from the United States and from the other EU capitals.

The myth that the protocol is hurting the economy has to be dispelled. I am very conscious of the Commissioner's live role in terms of any negotiations and engagement. What is his view on how can the European Commission assist the Irish Government in ensuring that some of those myths are dispelled? I have been asking the Irish Government to engage more regularly and forthrightly with businesses in the North and South to ensure that the opportunities, protections and insulations of the protocol are known to the people who are engaged in business and to broader society as well.

Some seem to misunderstand what the triggering of Article 16 would do in a practical sense. Some of what would happen has been lost in that inflammatory language and in some of those myths that are being created around Article 16 on the protocol. For the information of our committee and anyone who is watching the meeting - I know many people are quite interested in the meeting today - what would the triggering of Article 16 mean in a practical sense? We all know and can agree that it does not, will not, and should not mean an end to the protocol itself. Is é sin mo mhéid. That is my contribution Chair. Thank you.