Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will keep it very short; I have just a few points. A better European Union, which promotes and serves the sovereign and democratic needs of its member states of 500 million citizens, can only be achieved by campaigning for change and reform from within the EU institutions. Brexit presents us with the potential loss of investment, negative implications for border controls and common travel and the prospect of less protection for workers' and other rights. A British state withdrawal from the EU represents a major setback for the political process in the North of Ireland and relationships between the two islands. Brexit also poses a direct challenge to the integrity of the Good Friday Agreement and internationally binding treaties and undermines all-Ireland co-operation. In broader terms, the financial losses of EU investment, subsidies and funds to the North of Ireland and the southern Border counties arising from the British withdrawal is in the region of £2.5 billion. There are negative repercussions for foreign direct investment and the development of the North's export capacity in regard to access to EU and global markets and that is why there is now an immediate imperative for the Government to open negotiations with Britain over the constitutional future of the North of Ireland.

I want to add another point, a Leas-Chathaoirligh, if I may, not regarding Brexit but regarding the report this morning that many young people with disabilities who sat their leaving certificate did not have the environment they needed in order to be able to participate fully in that examination. That is absolutely disgraceful. Will the Minister responsible come to the House to reassure us that it will never happen again to those with a disability who have overcome very many challenges to get to sit their leaving certificate in the first instance?