Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Commissioner, I am very conscious that we are almost out of time. I will ask my questions now and allow you to answer all of them together. Fisheries and our fishing communities is the one area where there is still a lot of upset in Ireland. The piece of the Brexit adjustment reserve fund that we are getting is significant, and we appreciate that. It will go a long way towards assisting the fishing communities. However, there is a longer term issue around the viability of those communities over the next number of generations. I ask you to take that back with you in your work as something to consider further down the line.

Members share the frustration, which Senator Conway expressed in his questions, with the United Kingdom and its approach to these negotiations. At times you would have to question whether there was any interest on that side of the table in actually getting a solution and resolving the issues. The proposals the Commissioner made around the protocol for an 80% reduction in checks were significant, as he said. They went a huge way towards resolving the vast majority of practical issues on the ground, and the business community in Northern Ireland is telling us that. There is much frustration around what the true intention of the UK Government is in these negotiations. Is it intending on prolonging and having a protracted fallout or disagreement for other reasons? We just do not know and there is much frustration around that. What is the mood among other Commissioners and at Council level among other Heads of State and Government? I can imagine that patience has been tested. We know there is huge solidarity there with Ireland and we have seen that over the last number of years. However, there is only so far you can push people. When you go back to your colleagues in the Commission and when you engage at Council level, what is the mood music like in that space?