Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the witnesses and salute the work they are doing. I jotted down a few words as I listened to Mr. Murphy's opening remarks. I would be interested to hear more from him on his engagement at local level on the all-consuming topic of Brexit.

Mr. Murphy also mentioned the rise of populism. I would be interested to hear how the witnesses have noticed this in their communities. Is it a matter with which they will individually have to deal in next year's elections?

Reference has been made to villages. We have some beautiful villages, but I often think we are generally lacking in this regard compared to villages in places like the Cotswolds and parts of France. I would love to hear from the witnesses on that. The Government needs to do more to assist local authorities to make further improvements to villages.

Obviously, the Irish authorities have links with their counterparts throughout the Continent. I would like to hear more from the witnesses about the umbrella bodies that I presume they deal with.

Senator Leyden mentioned the link between Dover and Calais. It was amazing to hear the UK Brexit Secretary say the other day that he had discovered the importance of that link for the first time. The way things are going, when there are closures on the French side, lorries will back up to London. It is crazy. As the witnesses will be aware, 80% of Irish exports to continental Europe go through the Dover-Calais route. They have to go through Welsh ports first as part of the landbridge, which is absolutely vital.

I suppose we will be hearing more today, tomorrow and next week. We need to live in hope. We also need to plan for the downside.