Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I dtús báire, gabhaim buíochas leis an gCoimisinéir as ucht an mhéid oibre atá déanta aige ar an ábhar seo. Tá an t-ádh againn duine cosúil leis a bheith againn ag déileáil leis sin, duine a dtuigeann cé chomh tábhachtach is atá an cheist seo. At the outset, I thank the Commissioner for the work that he has done. We are incredibly lucky to have somebody who has invested time, listening to people and understanding the issue. We are very grateful for the amount of work he has done to resolve this. I am very encouraged by what he said about there being a change in the tone and it is encouraging to hear that he is committed to resolving this situation. Is the Commissioner optimistic that this will be resolved, although he may not be willing to say it at this juncture? I do not know if that is something we can say at this early stage. We all hope we get a resolution about which all parties are happy. Given that the way Article 16 is being used by one side to these negotiations is like a sword of Damocles or like children who are threatening to take their football home instead of playing with the other children, can we have faith in a resolution? Can we have faith that if we arrive at an agreement that is satisfactory to all parties that it will endure and last?

I also welcome what the Commissioner said about encouraging parliamentarians to have contact with their British colleagues, particularly their Westminster colleagues, to convince them of the importance of resolving this situation. Irish parliamentarians are doing that all the time. However, is that a message we should be sending out to our European colleagues throughout the Union and not just in Ireland? I thank the Commissioner for his time and efforts.