Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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I welcome the Minister of State and thank him for his presentation. This is my first time to address him and it is a pleasure to do so. Listening to the soundings around Europe, I detect a hardening of positions towards the UK which concerns me greatly. Ireland continually talks about the relationship we have with the UK and about how precious it is to this island, which nobody can deny. However, that relationship is not precious to France, Germany, Holland or to any of the 26 member states. Senator Richmond touched on the discontent, as did Deputy Haughey, among ordinary European citizens. Senator Richmond referred to the rise of the hard left.

I am somewhat concerned in respect of the European Community and even Mr. Juncker’s recent speeches are negative by nature and deal only with problems. I do not deny that there are problems in holding the European Community together apart from anything else. I am not so sure that a major investment plan will buy anybody right now. We need a major marketing job by Europe to sell or bring home to the individual citizen on the ground the benefits of Europe. Many motorways and office blocks around the country have signs stating that such a project was funded by the European Union. However, people's interest in that has waned and they do not really care any more. There is a rising call within this country for an Irish exit from Europe which would be detrimental to our economy. Regardless of our relationship with Britain, we need to hold that together.

It is time that we were honest with the citizens on both sides of this island and informed them that there will be a Border. There are only two options open if the other 26 dig their heels in. The two options are a border around the island of Ireland or a border between the North of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. That then opens the possibility - I have said this on a number of occasions - of an Ellis Island developing in Belfast or Drogheda, depending on which is easier to get into. That would create serious problems for this country with people migrating towards this country, as the only place with a land border with the UK. That is a concern.

UK Ministers and its Prime Minister are now admitting openly that the Brexit plan will be a shock to its economy; it will get worse before it gets better. We have already seen that the exchange rate has passed the 85 pence to the euro mark - it is up at 87.5 pence today. If it hits 90 pence, we are in serious trouble with respect to our trade with the UK. What plans does the Government have to support trade between the two islands?

Returning to the Border issue, 30,000 people cross the Border every day. I believe approximately 1 million gallons of milk cross the Border on a daily basis. These are serious issues. Someone last night suggested building a dual carriageway between Mullingar and Letterkenny in order to get over the problem of having to cross the Border. I sincerely hope this is not the way we are going. I have a problem with that.

Returning to what some of my colleagues have already said, I would like what are the side-bar chats between the Minister of State and his colleagues at European ministerial level. Is there a real acceptance that Ireland's community, North and South, voted by way of referendum on both parts of this island to have open borders and co-operate together? Do they really understand what that means? We simply cannot allow them to derail something that took 35 years to put together. I am really worried about that.

I will not be embracing CETA or TTIP right now. There are serious concerns about these trade agreements. I understand the United States is not so enamoured by TTIP now. We will not have time today to debate these but perhaps at some stage in the future we might set aside an entire meeting for them. We are pretty tight on time given that the first one will be signed on 18 October.

I see a rise of protectionism and nationalism. The migration issue has caused countries to consider closing borders and many have already done so. We have successfully traded off for a couple of billion euro the refugee crisis to Turkey, but we all know that will not last. At some stage these refugees will want to get out of Turkey.

The British have a view of European legislation, in particular workers' rights and human rights. I heard the British Prime Minister, Mrs. May, say that as far as possible UK legislation would encompass European law as it stands. However, I understand there is some concern, particularly in the area of human rights, that it may not be as encompassing as we might like it to be.

I apologise for asking the Minister of State so many questions; it will keep him going for a while.