Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is no doubt this is a very historic turning point for the country and Europe and the European Union. I am glad to hear the Minister mention Northern Ireland because it seemed to me from previous dialogue that the special circumstances of Northern Ireland had not been appropriately or properly acknowledged. There is no doubt that there needs to be a special status for Northern Ireland and for the Border region that my colleagues represent. We need absolute urgent engagement to address the many serious issues we have with regard to Brexit. These are primarily those that impact on citizens, the economy, Northern Ireland, the common travel area and the future of the European Union. My party is very concerned about the inadequate response of the Government to the many challenges the State faces from Brexit.

In the time I have I will refer to two particular areas. As Chairman of the Committee on Education and Skills, I will comment first on the challenges and opportunities that Brexit poses to the education system. The challenges are complex and manifold. On an annual basis, the number of Irish students studying in Britain is between 12,000 and 15,000. They come mainly from four categories. If that number of students choose not to go to the UK because there fees will absolutely go up, it will have a very significant knock-on effect on CAO points, the CAO system and university places here. It will put a lot of strain on universities that are already struggling with capacity. We know from the Cassells report that our third level institutions are underfunded and are already in crisis. They face a huge demographic challenge as it is without including those 12,000 to 15,000 students. The SUSI grant scheme will also be affected. Within the terms of the current scheme, the almost 2,000 students that go from Ireland to the UK or Northern Ireland will not be eligible to carry their grant support them. When we look at the UK students in Ireland, if a hard Brexit emerges, Irish students could be treated as international students in the UK. The British students coming to Ireland will be classed as non-EU students and will probably be charged non-EU fees. UK students currently represent almost 45% of the EU students in Ireland. This increase in fees could certainly act as a major barrier to those students. There will also be a big impact on Erasmus students coming from Europe, who have traditionally been going to England. That challenges our capacity. The final category it will affect is traineeships. Traineeships are fundamental to many degrees such as aerospace technology, car manufacturing and construction. There could be a reduction in the number of graduates qualified in some of these professions as traineeships decrease. There are certainly some opportunities available as Brexit could provide a useful opportunity to reverse the brain drain we have had. The UK stands to lose most or all of the €1 billion a year it receives in EU research grants. We have to fight hard to get a share of that.

There are things we must do. We must improve language skills among workers and students and we need to continue areas of all-Ireland research and innovation excellence. It is really important Brexit does not contaminate the perception of Ireland abroad as welcoming to international researchers and students.

I will also mention the effect Brexit will have on the equine industry in Kildare. Kildare is the thoroughbred county and counts for much of this industry; we are, therefore, very worried about the implications of Brexit. The horse racing and breeding industry contributes €2 billion annually to the economy and 28,000 people work directly in the industry and 58,000 indirectly. Many jobs are possibly at risk. Britain is the main market for both flat and national hunt horses. That would be at risk. The two countries have effectively operated as one industry for a number of years and they operate a single stud book. Any barrier to trade flows or the exchange rates could make Irish horses more expensive or result in lower returns in the industry. In particular, the freedom of movement of horses needs to be protected. The existing tripartite agreement between the Republic, the UK and France, allowing racehorses to move freely between the three, may be called into question due to Brexit. It is the same with labour. Breeders on both sides of the Border will have the same issues. The industry needs to be protected from the negative impacts of Brexit and mechanisms need to be put in place to protect this sector.

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