Denis Landy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I warmly welcome yesterday's belated visit by Ms Arlene Foster to Government Buildings. It is very important that engagement takes place between our Government and the Northern Ireland Executive on how to deal with Brexit. I also welcome the setting up of the all-Ireland forum on the issue, which has already met for its first session. However, I am very disappointed that local government in this country has been excluded from the forum. Neither the Local Authorities Members Association, LAMA, the Association of Irish Local Government, AILG, or the Northern Ireland Local Government Association, NILGA, were invited to take part in the forum. I mean no disrespect to the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, ISPCA, but surely representatives of local government across the island of Ireland are more entitled to be at the forum than the ISPCA, which was given speaking time at the first session.

I remember the dark days of the Troubles when councillors like myself went North and met DUP, UUP and Sinn Féin councillors. We brought them to County Clare to a conference on tourism in an attempt to break down barriers. We socialised with our Northern Ireland counterparts and realised that we had much in common. Out of that flowed the peace process in which we played a role. Now that Ireland is in trouble again, a decision has been taken to exclude councillors from the next challenge facing the island. The aforementioned cross-Border interaction between councillors led to many cross-Border initiatives, INTERREG initiatives and many successful Border projects. In that context, I ask the Leader to ask the Taoiseach to include local government representatives in the next round of discussions of the forum.

I wish to raise another issue which is directly related to Brexit and which was raised at a meeting I chaired recently on the economic effects of Brexit on the agrifood industry. Many exporting small and medium enterprises, SMEs, do not understand currency fluctuations or hedging funds and are losing trade because of their lack of knowledge. In that context I support the call by the Irish Exporters Association for training for SMEs in this area. Training courses should be rolled out across the country by the IDA, Enterprise Ireland or a similar body so that SMEs can understand the issues and maximise trade.

Finally, I welcome the bid by the IRFU to host the Rugby World Cup. However, as a Tipperary man I am puzzled that the second biggest stadium in the country which holds 50,000 people and whose hinterland can cater for 30,000 has been excluded from the list of 12 stadia. I do not want to mention any other county but the stadium in the nearest county to mine can only hold 22,000. That stadium cannot even host a Leinster final but it has been included in the IRFU's bid. The bid is being driven by Mr. Brian O'Driscoll and my former Labour Party colleague, Mr. Dick Spring, and I ask them to reassess the list of stadia and to include the stadium in Thurles on a longer list. I hope the exclusion of Semple Stadium is by accident rather than design. I ask the Leader to raise this matter with the IRFU on my behalf. Perhaps Senator Neale Richmond could also use his influence in this regard.