Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is very welcome to the House. As I said to her at a meeting of the select committee last week, she has a tough job ahead of her. I know she is up to it and I wish her all the best. Much groundwork has been done by the Government on Brexit and as an Independent Senator I acknowledge this work. Perhaps the citizens would be well served if they were given more information. I realise little enough can be done.

When the committee was first proposed by the Independent Senators, we realised we were taking on a huge task trying to compress it into a very short period of time. With the help of the excellent officials in the Oireachtas at all levels, the committee was established quickly and it started its hearings. I compliment the Chairman, Senator Richmond, on pushing us through the various hearings in a timely fashion, ensuring we stuck as rigidly as we possibly could to the timeframe.I wish to address the plight of the parents of EU citizens living in Northern Ireland who are not entitled to dual citizenship under the Good Friday Agreement, specifically ex-patriots who went there, some of them 20 or 30 years ago, to practise as doctors or university lecturers or to open businesses there. They number approximately 100,000 people and are extremely concerned that, post-Brexit, they will be isolated as British citizens with children who have freedom of movement throughout the European Union. When representatives of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade attended the House, they did not see any huge difficulty in resolving that issue. I ask the Minister of State to commit to follow through on that issue. Those 100,000 people are entitled to be looked after by the State, given that their children are citizens of it.

There is much negativity concerning Brexit and probably rightly so. However, opportunities that may arise must also be considered. That will be occupying the Minister of State over the coming weeks and months. As she said, she will be considering how to minimise the impact of Brexit as much as possible. Senator Mark Daly adverted to difficulties in terms of air traffic. Dublin Airport is being developed, albeit there are some serious planning issues in that regard. There is an opportunity to make it the link between the Far East and the United States and that should be pursued with vigour. Why should that opportunity be allowed go to Schipol, Heathrow or anywhere else? It needs to be followed up on as hard as possible.

There are several deep sea ports in Ireland, in particular those in Waterford and Cork. European funding is available in that regard. The transport industry has some concerns about the length of time it will take to cross from Waterford or Cork to France but the cost of tariffs may determine the optimal route. In that regard, Members now need to consider how those ports can be developed rather than doing so in five years' time. As the Chairman of the Seanad Special Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, Senator Richmond, and Senator Mark Daly said, the European Investment Bank is very much on message in respect of the availability of funding for investment in anything the State needs. There is also an opportunity to develop Dundalk or Drogheda ports for North Sea traffic and that must also be considered as best it can.

There are opportunities in education which need to be considered, as I learned while leading a delegation to Berlin two weeks ago. Once Brexit has been fully triggered, Ireland will be the only English-speaking country in the European Union and there is a consequent opportunity for teacher training programmes, which were discussed during my visit to Berlin, and exchange programmes. The idea is that Irish teachers of French, German, Italian and Spanish would be able to complete part of their training in those countries and teachers of English from those countries would be able to come to Ireland and, under the Irish Teaching Council rules, do part of their training here. Exchange programmes between students could also be facilitated. The greatest deficiency in our system in a post-Brexit world is the lack of language skills in the country. The Minister of State has travelled extensively. When one goes to a place such as Finland and a 12-year-old child tells one that he or she speaks Swedish, Finnish, German, English and Russian but his or her Russian is a little rusty, one starts to think about where Ireland's system has gone wrong. The State must start investing heavily in language education. That can be done in a partnership agreement. Other countries in the European Union are amenable to that.

There are a couple of issues of particular concern in the area of European trade. The British Government is doing what it does very well, which is prodding to see where it can find a crack. The recent announcement in regard to fisheries was a deliberate attempt to scare the horses to see if the resolve of the 27 could be broken. That is where the Minister of State and her colleagues in Europe will have to stick rigidly together. When such announcements are made by Westminster they will have to calm down whoever is scared by whatever issue is raised. The issue of fisheries can cause Ireland huge problems. I want a guarantee that the fisheries industry will be looked after post-Brexit. If that means European Investment Bank money is needed, given that the British Government is likely to close off 40% of our prawn or mackerel catch area, that needed to be worked on from last week and certainly not after it happens.

I will not reprise the impact Brexit will have on agriculture. We need to consider how we can diversify. Some of our agricultural output simply cannot be diversified as there is no market outside Britain and Ireland for certain agricultural products and we must therefore consider how to get such sections of the industry to change. For example, cheddar cheese has a limited market and there must be an exploration of what can be done to change that.

Post-Brexit, Europe has to be rock solid. There are a number of impediments coming down the road, one of the greatest of which is the lack of belief of citizens in the European project. The belief that people had in the 1970s when I was a young man and Ireland was entering the European Union and it sounded like a great idea has disappeared over time and the European Union has been turned into the devil incarnate and been blamed for everything that has gone wrong in every economy, whether that be in Britain, Ireland or elsewhere. Excuses have been made that the European Union imposed this, the European Commission imposed that and there is a directive on the other. Members must begin taking responsibility for what we negotiate and bring the message back to citizens. It is a tough message. I had to bring such a message to my union when I was president of the Teachers Union of Ireland and the first Lansdowne Road agreement was negotiated and thereafter I had to meet my members and explain that I had just negotiated a pay cut for them and it was the best deal I could get. Members must do the same in respect of negotiating with Europe.

It would give citizens great faith in Europe if a situation such as the cost of drugs in Ireland were addressed. I can go to Lanzarote and fill my prescription for the year at a fraction of what it would cost me in Ireland. The European project has to work across Europe.

I will finish on this point-----