Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I apologise for being late. I missed the contributions as I was at another committee meeting, which started at 1.30 p.m. I have read through some of the transcripts and other submissions on this matter. I have a few questions for Mr. Matthews on agriculture. I am not particularly sure what trade role the Commonwealth has at present. Would Commonwealth countries benefit or be afforded opportunities if the United Kingdom left the European Union? What will transpire given the view that Britain, as a food importer, would benefit from the Commonwealth rather than the existing arrangements within the European Union?

Regarding the vote, I presume Wales and Scotland are more reliant on the Common Agricultural Policy than England. Would this have an impact? Was any analysis done regarding direct transfers? Wales and Scotland have many environmental programmes that are funded through the Common Agricultural Policy, whereas England has a much higher number of larger farmers with larger single payments who would not be as concerned as the Scots or the Welsh.

My next question is for Professor Mullally.

According to British commentary over a number of years, there seems to have been an inordinate amount of discussion about the radical cleric, Abu Hamza. It took a number of years to expel him and it seemed to be garnering headlines. Does Professor Mullally think that incident alone has caused damage to the case for the European Convention on Human Rights?

I would like to ask Mr. Aiken the old question about Wales. I have not seen individual polling figures, but is there a possibility that Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland could vote "No", yet if England votes "Yes", the "Yes" side would win? Has there been any discussion on what would happen if the result was 50.5% "Yes" versus 49.5% "No"?

Migration is obviously a big concern. In January 2014, when the rules changed for Bulgarians and Romanians, the television cameras were waiting at airports expecting this huge influx. However, one poor creature got off the plane and was that day's headline. Given that we have a Border with the Six Counties, would there be a concern in Britain that if borders were not reinstated, we would be an easy point of access to the UK for migrants who could come through Ireland?