Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Seanad Éireann shall take note of the Report of the Seanad Special Select Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union entitled ‘Interim Report on the Impacts of Brexit’, copies of which were laid before Seanad Éireann on 8th July, 2021.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne, to the Chamber for the debate on the interim report of the Seanad Special Select Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, titled "Interim Report on the Impacts of Brexit". I pay tribute to the committee secretariat, our clerk, Christy Haughton, all the members and all the witnesses who gave evidence to the committee culminating in the publication of our interim report just before the summer recess.

This is a welcome opportunity to engage with the Minister of State to discuss the findings of the report and, more important, the recommendations of the committee, on which we hope the Minister of State and Department will be in a position to follow through. The report and the work of the committee spanned a number of key areas. We decided as a committee what we felt were the key impacts of Brexit on our citizens, businesses and the island as a whole.

The committee discussed, took evidence on and debated trade flows and customs; infrastructure, particularly our ports and roads; the rule of origin issue as it affects exports; the protocol on Northern Ireland and Ireland; citizens' rights in a post-Brexit world; mutual recognition of qualifications between Ireland and the UK; education and research; health issues, which have dominated some of the discussion on Brexit on the island, North and South; data flows, which may not at first have been considered one of the big issues but came to the fore when we realised the changes that came about as a result of Brexit; and future relations between the two islands, which we felt was one of the most important areas to focus on, including how we conduct business between Ireland and the UK following Brexit.

We kicked off by discussing trade flows. One of the key concerns running up to the Brexit deadline was how the import and export of goods would work at Dublin Port, Rosslare Europort and across the island. How would they impact on businesses and citizens and how would we deal with that? We made a number of recommendations. One was to streamline the process at our ports for exporters and importers. We noted the need for a one-stop shop. A key complaint we received from stakeholders was that their engagements with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the HSE and Revenue, were not conducive to efficiency at the ports. They had to go to a number of locations to get what they needed. We made a number of practical recommendations on documentation, including using electronic forms where possible, and to establish a one-stop shop to provide all the relevant information from the various Departments. The latter was a key recommendation.

When we discussed infrastructure, we concluded there was a need for increased investment at our ports and the arteries leading thereto, including roads and rail infrastructure, to make life easier for the haulage sector and businesses engaged in the import and export of goods.

We discussed rule of origin issues. Two industries that presented to the committee were the whiskey and dairy sectors. I am sure the Minister of State will agree that milk produced in Northern Ireland and Ireland is of similar quality, produced in a similar fashion and often used in the same production lines. This posed a difficulty. A key ask of the committee was to look at how we could include goods produced in Northern Ireland and still have Irish origin and EU origin status. This presents a difficulty and is something we need to keep an eye on, particularly in future trade agreements between the European Union and third parties.We spent a considerable amount of time discussing the protocol on Northern Ireland and Ireland and obviously this continues to be an ongoing area of contention. We looked at how to resolve issues that we see coming down the tracks. I will get an opportunity to discuss other issues towards the end of the debate but the key ask around the protocol is that we know that there is a vote coming in Northern Ireland, a consent vote which was built into the withdrawal agreement. It is the strong view of the committee that the Government and the European Union should be proactive in preparing for that vote and not take for granted the outcome of it, and that we seek a key plan from the Minister and the Department in the coming months on how we are going to prepare the country for that vote.