Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is a great privilege and pleasure to welcome the Taoiseach to this Chamber and in so doing to recognise that at the outset of him taking this office he set out a vision for the country in his republic of opportunity speeches. In setting out that vision, the Taoiseach then sought to give it practical expression with professionalism, passion and competence.

I appreciate the fact that, on taking office, the Taoiseach gave significant priority to the Brexit question. He brought to it an imaginative, courageous approach and thought outside the box.The Brexit phenomenon has an enormous potential to damage our economy and many facets of national life but its potential to devastate the region in which I live is more significant than in the rest of the country. It threatens agricultural producers, as well as those who are employed in the food processing sector across the region. If the jobs of those employed in the food processing sector were to be displaced, they would not readily find employment in other sectors. It would not be an easy area to attract sufficient inward investment to replace the displaced jobs. The question of how we deal with Brexit is paramount. It is paramount that the Taoiseach's achievement as we entered phase 2 of the negotiations in getting the commitments from the British Government is given practical expression and legal certainty and that we do not have a hard border. We cannot have regulatory divergence or customs on goods crossing the Border or any thwarting of free movement of persons. While I am happy the Taoiseach committed to that, I urge him to make it a critical part of his work in the future.

The trading relationship and the relationship with the UK is of paramount importance because of the kinship between our two countries. I thank the Taoiseach for the nomination to be the leader of the Irish delegation on the Council of Europe.