Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Should the Brexit withdrawal agreement be implemented in the next two months, as is highly likely, Brexit will be nowhere near finished. The Taoiseach has accepted on a number of occasions that we are facing into a hard Brexit when it comes to 80% of our trade with the United Kingdom. There are potentially years of negotiations ahead of us with regard to European Union-United Kingdom issues and bilateral matters.

During the past year, the Government has accepted our position that there needs to be a new approach to Anglo-Irish relations to replace the connections we had in the context of shared EU membership. One of the benefits of that membership has been the familiar meetings with British politicians and between our respective civil servants for nearly 50 years. That had a tremendous impact on developing close relationships, a common agenda in Europe and, critically, the peace process in Northern Ireland. I am surprised that, even though we have had some discussions on this issue, they have not gone beyond general statements of intent and a few comments about the British-Irish Council, which is in no way structured to be able to achieve the sort of engagement we need. When will the promised proposals for new working structures be presented?

The British Home Secretary announced the other day her intention of introducing a new visa waiver system for EU citizens entering the UK. This would require a landing card system and registration similar to the one operated by the US. While we can assume that the common travel area means that this will not apply to Irish citizens, it has serious implications for EU citizens entering the UK through Ireland. Equally, it is unclear whether this is covered in the withdrawal agreement, as the special economic status for Northern Ireland relates specifically to trade and commerce. Has this matter been discussed with the British Government?

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