Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. D'Arcy. That is useful. I appreciate that we are operating in the unknown on this. Senator Currie, Chair of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly's committee A, which deals with sovereign matters, led a delegation to London where we tried to get some clarity but it was not particularly forthcoming I must say. We know the one thing that businesses want is certainty. We hear this quite a lot about our own political dynamics. Mr. D'Arcy spoke about a lack of understanding of the Good Friday Agreement in the North and South. If he thinks it is bad here he would want to see it in the Home Office in Britain. It would frighten him.

I appreciate what Mr. D'Arcy has said and I take the Government at its word with regard to engaging the British Home Office on this issue. It is also important that the Government does not just hear it from these institutions. It should also hear it from other stakeholders, given everything that Mr. D'Arcy has said. We know the evolving and changing nature of the working world and how people work and the realities on this island. Whether it is tour operators from the US or Canada who want to organise a golf trip or a family heritage trip to Ireland, or business investors who know their workers can be based in Connemara but go to Derry to work, it is so important that businesses and stakeholders not aware of this issue become aware of it. The Government understands this issue. Along with the British Home Office and the British Government, it should hear the message loud and clear that this will be detrimental, for a range of reasons, throughout our economy and to the very real principles and spirit of the Good Friday Agreement.