Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank our witnesses. The difficulty for me is that there have been many good questions and responses. I have to compliment the witnesses on the comprehensive and informative presentations they made today. It is very useful for all of the reasons that have been outlined today. Before I get to the two points I want to make, I want to say that the issues the witnesses are raising about human rights, whether the failure to implement the Good Friday Agreement-related aspects of human rights, or the further diminution of rights as a result of Brexit, are felt personally. They are felt by people. I know the witnesses know this. It is not all academic stuff on a page. There are of course more vulnerable members of our society. We have spoken about migrants, refugees and minority groups who feel this acutely daily. Collectively, society in the North, given the conflict and the promise of the Good Friday Agreement and the peace process, feels the failure to implement those commitments and rights. As someone who moves between both jurisdictions, I am quite acutely aware of the divergence and the need for, not least, things like the all-Ireland charter to be resolved and for that synchronisation and harmonisation to take place.

The witnesses have covered all that and I will not take up all the time. If this is beyond their remit, they can just say so. If the legacy Bill proceeds as is, given its questionable legal standing, never mind moral standing, should the Irish Government take an inter-state case to protect the rights of victims and survivors?

This question is probably more for Ms Gibney. As Senator Currie said earlier, committee A is looking into the issue of the common travel area, electronic travel authorisation and the impacts of that. Is there potential, as an offshoot of that legislation, for a need for legislative changes or tweaks in this jurisdiction? I will give the example that was cited to us by the Tourism Alliance. As happens quite regularly, if people get off the plane in Dublin Airport, get into a taxi and tell the taxi driver they want to the driver to bring them to the Europa Hotel in Belfast, is that taxi driver required to ask if people have their visa? Are drivers required to ask if people know they need a visa and tell them how to go about it? If they take such a person to the Europa Hotel, have they transported someone over the Border illegally? All of this is hypothetical and difficult to get our heads around sometimes. There are even issues such as insurance. If a coach provider based in Donegal wants to organise a golfing tour around the whole of Ireland, including the Six Counties, how is that company protected as a consequence of legislation that is being driven and implemented in another jurisdiction?