Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I have no problem answering that. The President of the Commission herself has taken full political responsibility for this, and I think that is where accountability lies. Again, I am not running away from the question because I am as concerned as the Deputy. However, I cannot answer for the Commission. It is accountable to the European Parliament and the parliamentarians plan to question Commissioners, and maybe the President as well, and she has already addressed people. I am not here to defend the Commission in any way but I cannot be accountable for it either.

All of us, when we see a decision of the European Commission, are entitled to assume that the Commission has decided to do this in accordance with its powers and the way it does business, and we are entitled to assume that the College of Commissioners, in general, is part of the decision-making. As to the exact mechanics in this regard, the Commission will have to explain that, and we are in ongoing engagement with the Commission on that. Obviously, with trade policy, the Commission has the competence and it makes decisions like this, I am told, on an extremely regular basis in terms of safeguarding measures. Unfortunately, it appears to be the case that while the trade experts crossed every t and dotted every i, and made sure there was no possible theoretical escape route, somebody with a political sensibility in terms of the actual reality of the ground, and the lived lives of people in Northern Ireland, was not in the room making that decision. That is fundamentally the problem here.

It is a decision that I certainly hope will not happen again but Deputy Howlin is right that we need to ensure it does not happen again. As I said, we have ongoing engagement and that will need to continue. I strongly encourage members of the committee in their engagement with the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs, COSAC, and with their counterparts not just to say that a mistake was made here but to state that it cannot happen again, because to do otherwise would be to state we are okay when, in fact, we are not okay because we see the ongoing consequences in Northern Ireland. All of us here on this island, as Europeans, need to let our European colleagues know, in whatever capacity, what the consequences are to ensure more people know what the actual situation is on the ground in Northern Ireland.

Fundamentally, she has taken political responsibility and will have to be accountable to the European Parliament. I know the Vice-President of the Commission has been invited before the committee and I sincerely hope he attends and answers its questions. That would be very useful both in terms of accountability and in making sure that all of our Commissioners, who are our Commissioners, are fully apprised of the situation in Northern Ireland, and that would be a tremendous opportunity.