Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I have already done so informally. He is very capable and very knowledgeable on his subject matter. I look forward to working with him, as does the Labour Party, across a wide range of issues. This is probably the least contentious issue related to the Department that we will discuss in the Chamber. I hope that, starting afresh, the Department will be far more transparent and open and that the Minister will take proposals, ideas and information from myself and other Opposition speakers seriously and in a way that is seen to be for the good of us all. There needs to be a significant change in the way Opposition and the Government works when it comes to justice matters, An Garda Síochána, our Courts Service and immigration. The Minister has the capacity to change that now and I hope he does so.

This proposal, which we must sign off on before 11 March, is a good one. I think it will be supported by the whole House. The UK has a number of proposals like this with other countries, including Canada. This is very much a toe-in-the-water proposal however. It is really about politics in the UK rather than whether this is a good idea. This is a good idea but immigration numbers in the UK are still on the way up so how this is plays out in the UK will determine the prospects of this scheme, rather than whether the EU will agree to it. The EU will agree to it. Of course it will but it is very important that we are there at the outset.

This is because of the fact that as a country, with our common travel area we are seen to be very progressive. We need to protect that. We also need to be there at the outset of this to show how enthusiastic we are. The fact that there is not this capacity for young people from the UK to share experiences outside of this jurisdiction when they could formerly go to the rest of Europe, is a bad thing. It also works vice versa. More travel and experience, educationally and every other way is very beneficial to everybody involved and it does cross over to us, as a result. When it comes to the latter components of this and we are only signing up to this to start a process, rather than conclude one, it will all have to come back and we will all have to discuss whatever comes up again. There is sensitivity around it. I noticed that the name has been changed. My research shows it used to be called the youth mobility scheme. It is now called the youth experience scheme. We all know that the bottom line here is that from a UK perspective this is how a Labour Government over there is going to get this through without opening up a can of worms regarding Brexit and the movement of people and the common travel area. It is as simple as that. Hopefully, with our support and acting as we do at a European level in a very progressive way, we will be able to get to a point where the UK will work with us on this. Whether it will set out to be an agreement with a proposed three or four year limit or whether it has conditions on the type of travel that will be associated under this scheme; whether it will be used for longer periods for study and lesser periods for work; or whether it will have some other limitations, remains to be seen. I would guess that is probably going to happen. I would guess that there will be some changes in it but maybe, as part of the negotiations, there could be a phasing in of it as well. That is something we could propose that would help along the way, given the way the EU supported us through Brexit and the way Britain is so important to us from a travel point of view in terms of shared experiences. We should do whatever we can to support this and ensure it is delivered as quickly as possible.

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