Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

At the beginning, I thank Deputies O'Reilly and Ó Caoláin for kindly facilitating me.

Ever since I became Chairman of the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs, the impact of the UK's decision to leave the European Union on Ireland and on the European Union as a whole has been clear. As a result, the annual work programme of the committee and the work we have done has placed the strategic impact of Brexit at the heart of what we are doing.

The committee has been serious and diligent in its work. There are Members with a lot of experience on the committee and we all are clear that this is likely to be the most important public policy issue for Ireland for the next few years. As the committee responsible for also looking to the impact on the European Union, the committee is also clear that there will be major consequences for the European Union. Early on, it was clear to members that it would be important to engage directly with those involved in the negotiations in Dublin, Brussels and in London. The committee met relevant senior officials and the Minister of State, Deputy Dara Murphy, in Dublin and was clear on the need to travel to Brussels before the negotiations began and meet key individuals who would be involved in the negotiations. Colleagues will have seen the committee's travel report and on behalf of the committee, I thank all the Members who have commented as part of this debate. It will only help us all to do our job better.

In order that Members have a sense of the work the delegation did, we had a total 12 meetings over the two days in Brussels. All of them were important and all gave us an opportunity to ensure that key individuals understood that there was a strong shared consensus across political opinion of the importance of the issue to Ireland. We were clear that we all shared concerns on the potential impact on the peace process, on the potential impact of an imposed land border, on the economic impact across a variety of sectors and the potential impact on the future of the European Union. For many of those we met, it was the first time they had met representatives from the Houses of the Oireachtas since the summer and it was the beginning of a longer-term engagement.

The committee met the key representatives for us from the three institutions: Mr. Michel Barnier, the European Commission's chief negotiator, and some of his team; Mr. Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament's representative on Brexit; and the ambassadors, Mr. Kelleher and Mr. Hackett, as well as some of their teams - the key Irish representatives in the Council. In addition, we met MEPs from Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Cyprus and Malta, the European Commissioner, Mr. Phil Hogan, the European Ombudsman, Ms Emily O'Reilly, and representatives of the key Irish stakeholders based in Brussels.

In all of our meetings, the committee highlighted Ireland's commitment to the European project and was clear that Ireland's future is firmly within the European Union. In all of all our meetings, we were able to engage substantively on the concerns we have of the impact of Brexit on the peace process, the Border, our economy, the EU, ease of travel for Irish citizens relying on the common travel area and the challenges that we see to many other areas.

We found that most of the key stakeholders already had a general understanding of the unique Irish issues but they were interested in the detail on how it would impact on our constituencies. We found that they were well prepared for the task ahead and understood how challenging it would be. We found they were willing to engage, were interested in what we had to say and would be interested in continuing to engage with Irish parliamentarians. We ourselves improved our understanding of the concerns of others.

We came home with a few key learnings that might be of interest to the House. First, while many of our partners have a clear understanding of the issues facing Ireland and are working at solutions, those solutions to the challenges do not yet exist. There is a need for us to play our role in finding creative solutions. All parties we spoke to would be interested in hearing about solutions from those closest on the ground. These need to be European solutions that solve one challenge without having unintended consequences elsewhere. This will require real work.

Second, there is a need for us, as the Houses of the Oireachtas, to continue to engage directly with those involved in the negotiations. The Government is doing a good job at making sure that our partners understand our issues but we, as representatives of constituencies, can bring an important additional dimension to discussions. For example, the meeting we had with Mr. Barnier was frank - it was sincere on all sides and we dealt with substantive, complex issues - but it was only the start of a discussion. At that meeting, Mr. Barnier committed to coming to the Houses of the Oireachtas on a future trip to Ireland. This would be really useful for us, but also for him and his team. He is our lead negotiator and he will only do his job better if he fully understands our issues.

From meeting the Irish MEPs, it is clear that they all are working extremely diligently on our behalf and they are all involved in the European Parliament's work on Brexit. It is important for us to work with them; the joint committee hopes to do that at a dedicated meeting in late May. The European Parliament will play a vital role in this and is a key partner with which we all need to engage across the European political groups from all members states. Mr. Guy Verhofstadt, who is leading this for them, is an experienced and dedicated politician who is working with other MEPs from other parties, of course, as well as our own.

It is also clear how important Ireland's role is in all this. We joined the EEC in 1973 with the UK. They will leave in two years and we will remain a strong EU member state. In this negotiation, we will be negotiating with the 26 other remaining member states. We will need to work with all of those other member states to find solutions to all of the challenges that this untangling will raise but at the same time, the United Kingdom will remain a close partner for all of the European Union, especially for us. We share a long history. We share a Border and have many interests in common, including a significant number of citizens of each of our countries in each other's country. We need to think about those connections and make sure that we work on ensuring the right negotiated result, as well as the right investment in our future relationship. In playing our own role, the joint committee is planning a delegation visit to London before the summer.

Since the committee delegation travelled to Brussels, the British Prime Minister has sent the official letter to the European Union of the UK's intent to withdraw and the European Union is now considering draft guidelines. More than ten months since the referendum, the preparatory work is nearly finished on both sides and the negotiations are about to begin. We need to remain serious in our work and continue to engage with all partners.

I also thank the Minister of State, Deputy Dara Murphy, for his advice and guidance and the sincere way that he is negotiating with the committee. I came up with a small statistic the other day. Before chairing a meeting, I looked at the members of the committee. We had 226 years of experience on the committee. Eighty-six years of that is held by two of the esteemed members. I did not name them on the day and I will not name them now. My point is we are not that big a committee but in having that many years of experience, I believe we are well placed to do the job of work in conjunction with all of the other parties here to ensure that we make the most out of what is a damn fine awkward situation. At the same time, we have to look to the solutions.

I again thank the Sinn Féin Members for getting me out of a really tight corner this evening. I will not forget it.

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