Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for a very informative presentation, just like the previous one they gave us. They have painted a stark landscape and I would like them to reflect on the bigger picture, having laid out the individual issues. There is no assembly in the North at the moment and that has an obvious impact on people's quality of life, but they pointed also to a systemic inequality that has come about as a result of Brexit. As they said, human rights and equality were central to the Good Friday Agreement. How do they foresee that divergence being resolved, even if the assembly is sitting?

I am a member of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly and the sovereign affairs committee, as is Senator Ó Donnghaile. That committee, of which I am chair, produced a report on the future of the UK-Ireland relationship and pointed out that divergence, which was going to be an ongoing issue after the Windsor Framework, was something we would have to monitor. The divergence has a specific and acute effect on Northern Ireland. How do the witnesses foresee it being addressed? Will additional infrastructure in the assembly be required to deal with it and what can the Irish Government do to support that?

Our second report, which we are working on, relates to the common travel area and, primarily, to the impact of electronic travel authorisation. We had an interesting meeting with representatives of the North West Migrants Forum. These issues existed previously, but people will face similar issues in respect of tourism when the measure is introduced. Will the witnesses elaborate on that? They might even make a written submission to our committee based on what they have to say.