Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Paris Agreement is part of it. I will try now to respond to some other questions I did not get to earlier. On the structure and the planning for a no-trade deal Brexit here, it will be a matter for the new Government but I suspect it will be managed predominantly by the Taoiseach's office in partnership with the office of the Tánaiste, as it was in the past in the build up to crisis points in Brexit. We collectively managed the preparation and communications, working with the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation and other Departments, but the Taoiseach's office was central to that co-ordination, which is how it should be. There is a Cabinet sub-committee too. The key Ministers met to discuss Brexit a couple of days ago and we will probably have a formal Cabinet sub-committee meeting on Brexit in the next few weeks. We are gearing up on these issues again. Even though Covid-19 is to the fore in terms of the concerns of people and business in Ireland, the Government has to plan for the challenges over the next six months which the next Government will have to address.

On Deputy Brendan Smith's questions, whom I note has left the Chamber, the Garda and the PSNI have never been closer than they are right now in terms of co-operation. The way to deal with movement cross-border is to ensure that the PSNI and An Garda Síochána are engaging with each other and are applying the same types of restrictions in terms of preventing unnecessary movement and travel. My understanding is that this is happening. Members will not find me wanting in the context of encouraging more North-South co-operation in virtually every area.

I congratulate Deputy Mythen on his maiden speech.

I look forward to working with the Deputy. I take the points he has raised in regard to the potential trade deal that the UK would like to pursue with the US, and the potential consequences of that for some of the issues that were raised in respect of standards that we in the EU would regard as unacceptable, particularly in the areas of food and agriculture. Of course, if we do not have the full implementation of the protocol in Ireland and Northern Ireland around checks in Larne, Belfast and any other ports of entry in Northern Ireland, then we cannot guarantee, as the protocol will if it is implemented, the integrity of the EU Single Market in full without any form of border infrastructure on this island, North and South, which is guaranteed under that protocol.

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