Ms Martina Anderson:

I echo what has been said by Mr. McGrath and, in particular, Deputy Richmond in regard to the North-South Ministerial Council meetings. It is crucial those meetings take place and that there is full attendance at them so that we can move issues forward. The meetings are an avenue for discussions on perceptions or realities. There are an excellent forum for an exchange of views. All of us on this call would welcome regular communication. It would be good for us to be aware of when they are scheduled to take place, if on a quarterly basis.

Following on from what Mr. McGrath said, it is important for committee members to hear our views on the protocol. We are dealing with businesses in a number of sectors, be that manufacturers, farmers and traders, from across the North and elsewhere. They want to see the protocol implemented. They recognise that there is a degree of special status for the North remaining in the EU. As we all know, in the North, the lion's share of business is in the SME sector and 80% of them trade on an all-Ireland basis. None of us wanted to see any hardening of the borders. We already have a border on land and a border at sea. We have had a border at sea long before there was a protocol. While the protocol is being flagged as a problem, the issue is the consequences and outworking of Brexit because many of the representatives within the unionist community had believed that the hardening of the border would happen on land. Thankfully, all of us were able to prevent that happening. As the MEP for the North, I voted for the Irish protocol in the European Parliament. I could see that it was the least worst option in the context of the outworking of Brexit.

We need to see an end to the British Government solo run with regard to extensions. We need agreement between the EU and the British and Irish Governments on how all of this will be handled and managed going forward. We need not get caught up in the presentation of the Irish protocol being damaging to trade in the North. Businesses will find, and have found, a way of working through all of that. They obviously are frustrated that they have to fill in more forms and they did not want anything that was going to have a detrimental impact on what they do. None of us wanted that, but we voted in the North against Brexit and we knew there were would be consequences of Brexit. Unfortunately, for those of the British tradition who do not the border in the Irish Sea, there has been always a border in the Irish Sea but there has been an intensification of that border. We understand that, but we all knew there would be consequences from Brexit.

Deputy Richmond spoke about the institutions working out how we can make sure that the voices of the people in the North are heard. The people have a right to have their representatives heard in those institutions. That is where the democratic deficit looms large. We deeply appreciate the representatives in the South being our voice in those institutions when they get that opportunity, but we would like them to not get caught up in the Irish protocol being the problem. Unfortunately, for those who did not want the protocol, it has formed part of the solution. It is not the full solution. For us, we need to get to a situation where all of Ireland is in the EU, but that is a conversation for another day. This committee should at some point have a discussion on the planning and preparations for the constitutional change that is being discussed around kitchen tables across this island. That is something that we need to do that with confidence.

Those of us in the committee from an Irish republican or nationalist tradition will meet with representatives from the British Government when they come to talk to us or with representatives from the House of Lords or the House of Commons. We will engage with them with confidence about our position and what we want. We hope that others will also find the space and place to be able to do that. We ask the committee to hear everything that is going on and to be totally informed about this because the protocol is supported in the North, although people would like to see some kind of amendment to the protocol, if it is possible to do so without changing it, in order to have the flexibility we talked about and that Deputy Richmond referred to, that is required so that businesses can trade in a way that they want, with Britain and with the South. However, they certainly do not want to do that at the expense of diluting the special status that they have in any way. They want to see that protected.