Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick:

Deputy Haughey raised a fundamental issue about the protocol. Our chair, Lord Jay, is right. We are in the midst of building our report. We are taking evidence and have taken evidence on various aspects. From a personal point of view, I agree with the protocol. The Deputy is right that it was put in place to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland. There is no way that it interferes with the constitutional position of the North with the rest of Britain. The Deputy is correct about it. As Baroness O'Loan has said, some people have deliberately or unwittingly, not understanding the implications of the protocol, used that for the violence we have seen and mixed it into the divided society, thereby causing more upset and upheaval, as we have seen in the last few weeks. There is no doubt that we need political and economic stability. That is an overriding concern. Those are my personal views but I think some of them may emerge in our report, if I may be a little cheeky in that respect.

Deputy Haughey raised the issue of foreign investment. There are benefits. Last week, Mike Johnston of the Dairy Council for Northern Ireland gave evidence. It was in the Irish Farmers' Journal. There have been significant benefits to the dairy industry from the protocol, which is really an all-Ireland industry now because much of the milk from the North is being sent to the South for processing at Lakeland Dairies, and comes back north in the form of cheese, milk or whatever other form of dairy product. That has been active for many years and is increasing. Just yesterday, we were told that Dale Farm, a Northern dairy processor, has actually got a contract with Arla Foods, the Danish company, which is one of the benefits of the protocol. The guy who was interviewed on BBC's programme "Evening Extra" last night, Mr. Whelan, emphasised that that was a benefit from the protocol.

I will move on to Deputy Howlin's question. He talked about the need for economic and political stability. When we took evidence from Stephen Kelly of Manufacturing NI, he was able to underpin the increased level of investment between the North and Europe as a result of the protocol. That means jobs in a post-pandemic global economy, which can only be good for all of us. It has benefits for the whole island. The Deputy talked about the UK Parliament. There are different views in the House of Lords. There are those of us who want to see political and economic stability between Britain and Ireland and to see those good relationships nurtured. Notwithstanding my personal preference for uniting the people of this island, which we are not discussing today, there is a genuine concern about some of the damage that has been caused by Brexit and, above all, the need for a resolution.

That resolution could be found in a sanitary and phytosanitary measures agreement, a food supply agreement that would resolve the sausage war to which Deputy Haughey referred, the medicines agreement and an EU office in Belfast to help those better relations.