Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Senators Ned O’Sullivan and McDowell about the St. Patrick’s Day trips, or visits to use the more appropriate term. One aspect that struck me when I took part as a local authority chairman from my own county was that it means a great deal to our diaspora. These are people we sometimes abandon. To give them a morale boost by meeting them and attending their festivals is important. I could not agree more with the Senators. I was very struck by the importance to people on the other side that the representatives of this country were out with them.

I take the second point Senator McDowell made on our relations with the UK. They are very important. I am very happy to be a member of the Council of Europe which will now be the only international forum at which the UK will be a full member alongside Ireland. We will be very conscious of working with the UK there and of maintaining good relations. We do so already, as Senator Gavan will be aware from his time on the council where we go out of our way to have bilateral meetings and social events with the UK delegation. We will continue to do so.

I ask the Leader specifically to ensure there is a strong focus in the House on the potential crisis facing Irish agriculture in the event of a no-deal Brexit.While I take on board Senator McDowell's point that we have to be steady and shrewd in our dealings with this, the proposed tariffs published this morning would be catastrophic, and were they to be actualised, they would create a real difficulty for Irish agriculture. We will need a very robust Common Agricultural Policy. I ask the Leader to be conscious of that, to demand that on our behalf, and to have debates around that. We will also need a package of assistance from the EU in either scenario, whether we have a crash-out Brexit or a Brexit at all. Even with a soft Brexit with currency fluctuations and trading difficulties, there will be considerable problems for Irish agriculture, and in a crash-out Brexit those problems will become much greater. In any scenario, Irish agriculture faces very difficult times ahead. It is challenged and will be very challenged. I ask the Leader to seek a very robust Common Agricultural Policy, support for Irish agriculture, and to seek for us to win the loyalty of Europe at this difficult time. It is important to keep cohesion in the Union and that the EU would back us up now.