Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am impressed by the concern expressed about Brexit by my colleague, Senator Ó Donnghaile. In view of his party's inactivity in respect of participating in the decision-making process in the House of Commons, I do not think people can come into this House and outline the failure of this Government. Over the past two and half years we have done everything possible to make sure that our influence is taken on board in making sure that there will not be a hard border and encouraging the UK to reach an agreement on the withdrawal process.It is disappointing that our colleagues from Sinn Féin will not participate in the decision-making process in the UK. That must be taken into account.

Legislation relating to the boundary extension in Cork was finally passed in the Dáil yesterday and it is welcome. The extension will kick in whereby Ballincollig, Blarney and Glanmire are coming into the city. It is also important that information is made available to people about the changes that are occurring because there is a lot of misinformation out there about where exactly the boundary line is. New voting registers will be published within the next ten days and it is important that the relevant information is conveyed to people, perhaps by way of public advertising, particularly to those who are on the boundary lines between the city and county. The Minister of State, Deputy Phelan, and the Department should make sure that the two local authorities and the Department get that information out there at the earliest possible date. Local elections are not that far away and it is important that people know exactly where their new voting station is because people will be changing voting stations. They should not have to look around for that information on the day of the election. We should get that information out at a very early date.