Dr. Anthony Soares:

Dr. Hayward is right about the common travel area, and Mr. Sheridan referred to it earlier. I am trying to look for some positives. The European Council and the European Commission have referred to the common travel area and almost given a green light to it, including reciprocal arrangements between the UK and Ireland. It refers to that, although there is a little catch-all at the end of it to the effect that it will be within the EU legal framework. That is where we have to dig down and see whether this is now solid and it is being accepted that we can continue on post Brexit with those reciprocal arrangements that currently exist. As Dr. Hayward said, the common travel area and the arrangements around it need to be given more of a solid legal basis in both jurisdictions, that is, in Ireland and the UK, because at present, no single legislative item in Ireland states here is the common travel area Act and it is the same for the UK. There is no single item of legislation setting out exactly what is the common travel area and what are the arrangements around it. We really need to think about giving it more of a legislative basis than exists at present.