Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his work. I also thank the officials in his Department and, indeed, other Departments for their work. We are extremely fortunate in this country to have such quality diplomatic staff and, indeed, public service when dealing with a complex challenge such as this one.

I note colleagues, including Senator Chambers, talked about the unity of purpose in this Chamber and, indeed, across the country in dealing with this matter. I hope that when the Daily Mailor The Expresscome up with their latest story about splits in Ireland, or anywhere else in Europe, that they pay attention to parliamentary debate and understand our unity of purpose.

I support this legislation and, once enacted, I want us to consider the four specific areas: transport, education and research, data privacy and future post-Brexit relations. On transport, I welcome the comments made by Senator Craughwell when he praised for Rosslare Europort and Wexford County Council for preparing Rosslare. He will be very much aware that there will be a new direct sailing between Rosslare and Dunkirk. We need more direct sailings from this island to continental Europe. It is essential that, as a Government, we work to promote that. I ask the Minister, given the fact that the volume of freight that will travel through Rosslare will continue to increase, to give serious consideration to ranking Rosslare Europort as a tier 1 port. That will be essential given it will be the nearest port to continental Europe.

I have a specific concern about airports. In a post-Brexit scenario, the Boris Johnson Conservative Party, as everyone will know, is not the free market, free trade Conservative Party of Margaret Thatcher. Has the Government considered what will happen if the UK Government decides to heavily invest in regional airports such as Glasgow, Birmingham or wherever as they will unfairly compete with our airports in Shannon, Cork and, in particular, Dublin? If the UK Government changes its policy, what preparation has been made regarding air transport?

On data privacy, the UK has agreed, for the moment, to adopt the provisions of the general data protection regulation or GDPR so it has UK GDPR. In the future, EU decisions on GDPR will not apply to the UK and the UK has the independence to keep the framework under review. What provisions the Government put in place if decisions on data privacy are made at an EU level, if the UK decides to diverge from that? We are moving towards tighter regulation on behavioural advertisements or micro-targeting, in addition to algorithmic auditing and content curation. If there is divergence between EU regulations in this area and what happens in the UK, that will have significant implications in Ireland, particularly as we share data with our nearest neighbour a lot of the time. What preparations are in place if that happens?

Brexit has caused many problems but in the area of education and research there are major opportunities. We need to avail of those opportunities and continue our very strong relationships in higher education and research. We have a common peer review culture, a quality assurance culture and student and staff exchanges, which must be continued. We must also consider the opportunities that Brexit presents. Ireland will be a much more attractive country for UK and international academics so we need to develop a programme to attract them here.

It is an enormous pity that the UK has decided to withdraw from the Erasmus+ programme. Currently, Ireland only sends 3,500 students on the programme every year and 8,000 students come in from continental Europe.Normally, the UK receives 32,000 students from continental Europe. Ireland will be a very attractive place for those students when they can travel again. I do not believe that we have given enough thought to the possibilities that will arise as a result of Brexit.

The research budget at European level will be €80 billion although the final figure has not been agreed. With the UK not taking part, there will be significant opportunities for Ireland. It is essential that we have people in Brussels but partnering with European universities and other institutions to avail of any opportunities.

I will conclude by discussing our post-Brexit relationships and long-term relationship with the EU. The Brexit debate forced a very healthy debate to take place in this country and an understanding of the European Union, and the closeness of our relationship. In an increasingly G2 world dominated by the US and China, we need another strong voice at the table. I know that the Minister recognises that in the European Union. We need to redevelop our education programme to highlight the importance of Europe domestically. We also need to talk about European values, including the rule of law, and we can debate what is happening in Hungary and Poland again. Having a debate as part of the Brexit process has been important but it should not now stop. The benefits need to be more effectively communicated domestically and continue the debate about Ireland's part in Europe.