Maura Hopkins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Like other Senators, I strongly commend the work of the Minister of State, the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the remaining members of the Government. I particularly mention Ms Mairead McGuinness, the Fine Gael MEP, who has done significant work as Vice President of the European Parliament. All of these individuals and the officials involved in dealing with the matter have been extremely competent, focused and constructive. It has meant that Ireland has remained at the core of the negotiations at all times since the referendum. My colleague Senator O'Reilly and I are the Irish delegates to the Council of Europe and it has been very evident from our meetings with various delegations that Ireland is very much at the core of this issue and that its concerns and the negative impact Brexit will have are at the forefront of the minds of delegates across Europe when they speak about Brexit.

Approximately three weeks ago I attended a Brexit event organised by Sligo Institute of Technology and Councillor Sinéad Maguire. It was also attended by the Tánaiste, Deputy Coveney. The fact that it was standing room only at the event is very strong evidence that there is significant worry and concern about Brexit, particularly across the business and farming sectors. Mr. Aaron Forde, CEO of Aurivo, was one of the speakers at the event. He addressed the implications of Brexit. He referred to the 40,000 lorries which crossed the Border each day, one quarter of which were involved in milk processing. I am aware of the significance of this issue because there is an Aurivo dairy ingredients plant in my home town of Ballaghaderreen. Brexit will have significant implications in ensuring we have the best possible relationship with the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland, and will not see the return of a hard border.Obviously there is huge concern. Recently I was at an event in Glenamaddy. Half of our beef is exported to the UK. We want this to continue but any discussion on the reintroduction of tariffs will make it very much a non-viable industry. These are a number of examples of the real-life implications and why there was standing room only in Sligo IT three weeks ago. We are very aware the Government has put in place supports to assist businesses to prepare as best they can, and this is important, but we are still very much in an unknown space.

The Tánaiste quite rightly said we hope the legislation we are putting through will remain on the shelf with regard to protections we never thought we would see for pensions, travelling on a train from Dublin to Belfast and ensuring access to medical care, North and South. We need to put these preparations in place in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The Tánaiste said it quite well, particularly at the event in Sligo, that hope is not a strategy. At this point in time, we must hope the extremes we are seeing in the UK see reason and see the need to ensure a good decision is made in the best interests of the UK and in terms of ensuring we work together. We know that working together it is better and what we have seen in terms of the politics of extremes does not assist in good decision-making. We have to await developments but it does not sound so positive at the moment. A little bit of hope is what we need to ensure we have the closest possible relationship with the UK, which we need to have because it is our closest neighbour.

If and when Brexit happens, the Council of Europe will be the organisation with which the UK will then interact and we do work very closely with our UK colleagues on this. We will continue to do so to ensure that Ireland's interests are at the forefront and that we have a good relationship with our nearest partners.