Deputy Brendan Smith:

I welcome the Minister and his officials and I thank him for his detailed presentation. He emphasised that the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement will remain a priority for him and his Government colleagues, as it should be for all of us here in the Oireachtas. An Irish language Act, a bill of rights, a civic forum and a North-South consultative forum are all issues that need to be addressed and progressed. I sincerely hope that it will be possible to do the latter.

The Minister mentioned a number of us who have had the honour of representing our constituencies in Dáil Éireann for some time. As a Member of this House in the 1990s, I spent a great deal of time dealing with issues relating to the Border. They involved people being harassed, particularly at weekends. Mr. Adrian O'Neill, a senior Department official who is here with the Minister, was the person on the Anglo-Irish desk at the time who I persecuted every Monday morning and Sunday night with regard to buses being delayed or people being harassed on the way home from football matches. I never thought that we would be back talking about possible border controls in our own province of Ulster. I never thought it would be possible. Sadly, this may be the situation with which we may be confronted. I hope that will not be the case. Since the mid-1990s, all of us - North and South - have underestimated the fact that there has been huge economic development on a North-South and South-North basis. People in this State and in Northern Ireland underestimate the movement of individuals on a daily basis going to and from work on either side of the Border. I represent two rural counties - Cavan and Monaghan - in the south of Ulster. There is a huge movement of people from the North to the South and vice versaon a daily basis, which is very welcome. If there are restrictions on the movement of people or goods, it will be a nightmare that will prevent further economic development. This would be a huge hindrance to people's daily business and to the further economic, social and political development of our island.

There are serious concerns along the Border regarding the possible impact of Brexit. They have already arisen due to the uncertainty caused by the decision, particularly the drop in the value of sterling and the impact this has had on business.

Thankfully, there are many small and medium enterprises which have developed in recent years on our side of the Border which trade exclusively in the sterling area. Likewise, there are firms on the Northern side which trade exclusively with us. They will be impacted very heavily due to uncertainty on the value of sterling and currency fluctuations. In one of the rooms next to this one, the mushroom sector is meeting the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The sector has already been badly hit due to the drop in the value of sterling. This is impacting not just on that sector, but on other sectors also, and the impact has not been quantified as of yet. Thankfully, many of our major enterprises in farming and the agrifood sectors have developed businesses on an all-Ireland basis. Lakeland Dairies in my constituency was predominantly a Cavan, Monaghan and north midlands enterprise, but is now a huge enterprise North of the Border also. It has manufacturing sites on both sides of the Border. Likewise, LacPatrick, which was formerly the Town of Monaghan Co-Operative and Dairy Society, is a major agrifood company with sites on both sides of the Border. We cannot imagine the difficulties that will arise for such enterprises because they move raw material North or South depending on the need at each plant. On the idea of having restrictions, Dr. Alasdair McDonnell referred to the difficulties that would arise even from the so-called "soft Border". It would impose additional expense on business and make us less competitive. Any type of Border would be a huge hindrance to economic development in the Border region and the country as a whole.

There is a huge task ahead. I welcome the fact that the Minister stated very clearly that he wants to work with the committee. I mentioned at the last meeting of the committee the need to involve civic society to a great extent in the work of the political system and of the public service. Some thought must be given to the establishment of an all-Ireland civic forum on Brexit because we need an all-island project to bring out the best in the political system, the public sector and civic society to ensure that we address in a meaningful way all of the major issues that face us as a result of the decision in the British referendum.