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

I thank the Deputy for raising the issues. I recall the event in Iveagh House last year. It is extremely important because many businesses and people who employ people in Northern Ireland were very insightful and enlightening in respect of Brexit and how various responses by both the UK Government and the Irish Government could negatively impact on their everyday working environments. It is extremely important that we continue to nurture and cultivate more engagements with organisations such as these, particularly in respect of Northern Ireland, because sometimes people have general notions and ideas. However, it is when we meet the people who are in the field and who are doing the work that we can learn a lot and then apply that learning to policy. Vice President Šefčovič of the European Commission, for example, had tremendous interaction with the Northern Ireland Business Brexit Working Group. That did help change attitudes within the Commission, which led to the Windsor Framework agreement.

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