Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome Dr. Ivory and Ms O'Donovan. IBEC will play a very important role. I read with great interest its report on the priorities of Irish business in the EU-UK negotiations. It is a comprehensive document and is worth reading for anyone in business. IBEC represents about 70% of the Irish private sector workforce and has a staff of over 200 in seven locations around Ireland and in Brussels. It had a seminar last week in Galway on its members' concerns. It is very important that IBEC exists and that it is strengthened to cope with the future.

As far as the White Paper is concerned, Europe should not be frozen in time at this stage. We must accept that there is going to be a British withdrawal; whether it is orderly or disorderly, they are not going to change it. That is the message we are getting back. I would recommend that the EU extend and continue membership negotiations with Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. We should not put off these new member states coming in. We should increase membership from 27 to 30.

We have many documents, which the Chairman and secretariat know, from the Brexit negotiations. We have documents on their aspirations for Northern Ireland and Ireland, position papers and future partnership papers; we are inundated with documentation. The negotiations are under way and we could have many views on the outcome. Everyone seems to be an expert but at the end of the day we really do not know the outcome. The Prime Minister, Theresa May, will make a very important speech on Friday in which she will set out her situation. We are meeting the European Parliament Brexit co-ordinator on Thursday morning in a joint session that will take place in the Dáil Chamber and he will present his views. We already met Michel Barnier. I am going with the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly to Brussels this weekend to meet Mr. Barnier and others. The British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly has a Brexit committee to deal with the effects of Brexit. In that case, we work alongside our British members, which is rather interesting.

IBEC will probably not comment on this but I do not think there is an awareness in the Government of how serious this situation is. There is plenty of talk about it. I am convinced there should be a dedicated Brexit Minister who deals exclusively with Brexit issues. It is fine tying it to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade but it requires a dedicated Minister. We have a dedicated spokesperson on Brexit, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, and he is working very hard in that regard. I presume that when Fianna Fáil comes back into Government, we will have a Brexit Minister because the negotiation will still be going on at that stage.

There should also be an Ireland-Europe house - I will not call it a Brexit house - in the Department of Agriculture on Kildare Street dedicated to displaying the effects of Brexit and the future of Ireland post-Brexit. It should be a one-stop shop where people can go for information, whether the IFA or the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association, and it should be absolutely dedicated to providing facts about Brexit and also the opportunities it presents. Perhaps the witnesses are not in a position to encourage that but I actively encourage British companies to relocate part of their production to the Republic of Ireland, particularly the west of Ireland and my constituency of Roscommon-Galway, which is in close proximity to Ireland West Airport Knock. It has the potential to provide an export hub for a similar airport in Europe such as Baden-Baden, which is in the centre of Europe. It would be ideal for sensitive exports flying over Britain.

My concern is if we rely on going through Britain with our exports there could be delays in the tunnel or at customs and excise and so on. We need to strengthen the roll-on, roll-off down in Rosslare. The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport needs to be involved there. It seems to have no interest. The Minister has never visited Ireland West Airport Knock and he is obviously not interested in it. I do not know if he has visited Rosslare. That Department should be fully on top of the situation and should be seeking derogations and support from Europe for the development of the ports and airports in this country. They could make a case for a derogation from state aid rules to allow an increase from 75% to 90% for the development of our regional airports. There is plenty of work to do. I actively encourage companies to look at the Republic of Ireland to ensure we have a foothold in the large European market after Brexit and without tariffs. If they can link in with the availability of space in the regions, it would be a marvellous boost. Let us be positive. We will just have to take opportunities in what is presented to us in the future in an active way. I ask the Government to please do something. The republic of opportunities will not exist unless we solve Brexit.