Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Go raibh maith aghaibh. I apologies for being late. I was dealing with an interview on this issue during which I stated that I would come in here and sort the entire Brexit issue out altogether. Maybe we would be better doing that in private session. Apologies in advance if I repeat what has already been said.

We all welcome what happened yesterday but we need to see implementation at this point of the Irish protocol. As much as everybody is talking about the possibility of a deal being 50-50, I suppose there is a hope that we are working on the basis that Boris Johnson and Britain need this deal. Given that 45% of Britain's exports go to the European Union, the impact that will have on their economy has to be enormous in a worst-case scenario.

There is belief among many people here that the amendments included in the UK Internal Market Bill and what was being proposed in the context of taxation in the UK Finance Bill were introduced as a negotiating gambit and almost something that was put on the table so that they could take it off. Whether that relates to President-elect Biden or not, we did not see it here as a protection of the Good Friday Agreement or anything relating to the island of Ireland. This has given rise to a credibility issue on Britain's part for the future. I could claim that I am not shocked by Britain moving goalposts in the context of the negotiations, but it does create difficulties. It even creates difficulties for Britain right now.

I was not going to say this but I will. It can be quite difficult at times to listen to British politicians talking about national sovereignty and anomalies in relation to the North, particularly as regards Brexit. Being absolutely straight, I would say that the fact that we have partition on the island of Ireland is due to previous British Governments deciding what suited them from a point of view of their own interests and not ours. Anyway, I have said it now.

It would be absolutely ridiculous from a British point of view for there not to be a trade agreement. Even if there is a thin trade agreement, one is talking about going back to negotiations. The difficulty will be that that leaves future room for crisis, uncertainty and difficulty.

I would like to put a question to Dr. Whitford in respect of Scotland. I imagine that a worst-case scenario would change the dynamic in Scottish politics.

On fisheries, there is a view out there regarding what Britain is seeking. Obviously, Boris Johnson needs two outcomes. He needs a deal, but he also needs to be able to sell a deal to the Brexiteers that there was a point to Brexit. I am not quite sure how he will be able to handle that. I am worried about fisheries. There is a view that Britain is making a grab for fishing rights in circumstances where its industry lacks the capacity necessary to fish the relevant waters. I am not sure where matters stand in that regard.

I add my voice to all those who have asked what are the preparations for any type of Brexit in Britain. It is a huge difficulty for us, including the land bridge. The National Audit Office has said that preparations are nowhere near what is necessary to be fully operational on 1 January.