Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I regret that I was not here yesterday. I was a member of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly committee on Brexit, led by Andrew Rosindell, MP, joint chair of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly and also chair of that committee. We spent a number of days in Brussels. We are preparing a report for the October session of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly, which is being held in Liverpool. We have representatives of the Dáil, Seanad, the House of Commons, the House of Lords, the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and the Northern Ireland Assembly. We were there to try to ensure the best arrangement we could to influence negotiations between the European Union and UK.

One thing is missing. We have no democratically elected Executive in Northern Ireland. It is vital that the Executive is formed to represent the people of Northern Ireland in Brexit negotiations. I appeal to the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin. I see the Democratic Unionist Party would prefer to run the show from London. It has a £10 billion fund to distribute and divvy out. That is the way that I see things going. The DUP is also going to have influence on the final negotiated settlement. We discussed whether there is to be a border or customs border of any sort, whether electronic or otherwise. Is it the 500 km Border or is it a border in Larne and Belfast on the Irish Sea? This is the point that comes across clearly at the moment. The European Union is not that helpful. It says that it is not its problem but that it is the UK's problem because it has decided to leave. We in the Republic will be the ones who will experience collateral damage because we are not at the negotiating table. We have no direct representative. We are represented by one of the 27. The point is that Britain is represented by the British Government and the Democratic Unionist Party has a say in that Government. Bear that in mind. I ask the Leader if he will arrange an update on the position and enable discussion of these matters among a very representative Seanad, representing all the parties and Independents, to update people on what is happening in Brussels.