Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In respect of the all-island conversation that the Senator mentioned, obviously that is a part of where we are. We are going to follow through on that.

Let us see whether we can make real headway in terms of the Manning report. I hope that all of the parties will agree to participate. Rather than have this vested in just one Department, it will be the responsibility of the implementation committee. The former Senator Manning and his people have said that they will be available to work with that implementation group in terms of any technicality or issue that might arise and on which it wants further background information.

Senator Conway-Walsh mentioned Article 50. When it is triggered is the right of the Prime Minister. Obviously, I have met the Secretary of State, Mr. Davis, and the Secretary of State, Mr. Brokenshire. Most Ministers have met their counterparts and we are obviously looking at the contingency issues that are going to have to be dealt with here, but remember this - of all the countries to be affected by Brexit, Ireland is the most critical. This does not affect other countries in south-eastern Europe to the same extent. Given our connections with Britain over the years - social, economic, political and so on - and the working relationships that we have, we need to maintain those. The common travel area affected both countries to their benefit before we joined the Union and since we joined the Union, but it has not been tested with one in and one out. Clearly, we do not want to return to a hard Border here. It is my intention not to have that. It is also the intention of the British Prime Minister. There may be different views in Europe. If one has a land border between Dundalk and Derry, obviously we need to be able to look after our national interests, and our national interests were voted on in 1998 when the Good Friday Agreement was voted on and people North and South voted for the right and the opportunity to be able to travel on this island freely.We do not want to see a situation whereby people in Northern Ireland who are entitled to Irish passports would be required to have visas to visit a part of this island that is a member state of the European Union when the UK has eventually pulled out of it. There are issues that need to be examined. I have spoken to a number of people about imaginative ways of ensuring that we can retain the best of what we have and move on. From a European perspective, we need to face the future in a way that allows Europe to move forward with its almost 500 million people and all of the opportunities that presents. Europe has evolved over the years out of the slaughter of two world wars. Peace in Europe has been, possibly, taken for granted. In the context of the human catastrophic events happening in Syria and Aleppo, that peace should never be taken for granted. For this reason, it is important that the politics of Europe is focused on what we can do to deal with immigration and the prosperity and development of members countries.

Senator McDowell made an important point. We are not going to play around with the public finances. All of the people of the country have made sacrifices and we have moved to a point where we are in a better position than we were but we are not yet where we would like to be. Careful management of and continued growth in the economy allows for expenditure to deal with those who have been left behind, those who have been neglected and those who have been treated unfairly. We need to get those people out of poverty and on to higher incomes so that they can contribute fully to their communities and areas.