Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach as an bhfáilte a chur sé romham filleadh ar an seomra álainn seo, seomra inar shuigh mé ar feadh cúig bliana, idir 2011 agus 2016. Tá áthas orm a bheith ar ais leis an Seanadóir Daly agus é ina Chathaoirleach. Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis an roghchoiste maidir leis an mBreatimeacht. Tá obair an-tábhachtach déanta ag na comhaltaí go léir faoi chathaoirleacht an tSeanadóra Chambers. Is obair í atá an-tábhachtach chun cur in iúl do gach duine go bhfuil fadhbanna fós ann; go bhfuilimid sa Teach agus san Oireachtas uile ag lorg réitigh ar na fadhbanna sin agus, mar a dúirt an Seanadóir Murphy, go bhfuilimid ag cur lámh shíochána amach do gach cearn de Thuaisceart na hÉireann.

I am grateful for the invitation to return to the Seanad today and for your kind words earlier, a Chathaoirligh. I was very glad to be a Member of the Seanad for five years. I believe this is my first time back in the Chamber since I left the Seanad, although I have addressed the Seanad previously in the Dáil Chamber.

I thank the Chairperson of the select committee, Senator Chambers, and members of the select committee for the important work that has been done. When I was a Member of the Seanad, I always felt that it was a real gap that select committees were not used. It was only after my term that select committees started to be used on a thematic basis. Certainly, I believe they should be used more in the Seanad. That is important because sometimes they provide a different reflection given that in the joint committees, perhaps, Members of the Dáil are more to the fore, not in all cases but by the very nature of democratic representation.

The Seanad select committee provided an important platform for businesses, community groups and civil society groups when appearing before it. I am aware that a final report will be issued. The Brexit response has required a massive, collective, change-management exercise across the Government, the Oireachtas, business and civil society. I emphasise the word "collective". The cross-party approach on Brexit in this Chamber and in the Dáil has been of great importance. When we go to the European Union and get unity from all the member states, it is easy to ask for and expect that unity when they see that the political system here is united on the issue of Brexit. That is welcome and I thank the Opposition and Government members for it. It cannot be underestimated. That has held for the last number of years and, unquestionably, it has been very much in the national interest.

It is nine months from the end of the Brexit transition period, but it still feels like a transition. The British withdrawal from the Single Market and the customs union, two big mistakes, in my opinion, which I believe it is seeing now, has resulted in changes to our imports and exports. It has had negative effects in this country and we can see the disastrous effects in Great Britain. The way in which we move goods on and off the island has changed. We are monitoring trends closely and are cautious at this stage about long-term conclusions because the effects of Covid and the Brexit transition still exist. However, there are a number of issues in the report and I will try to address them and the issues raised today.

Regarding improvements to flows in our ports, some improvements have been made. For example, a dedicated communications interface between traders' customs systems and the Revenue Commissioners roll-on roll-off system is now in place. Further improvements are also in train. Relevant agencies are working together to streamline processes and reduce the administrative burden for traders as much as possible, but we have to meet our obligations under EU law. The change here is that Britain has left the Single Market. It has built these barriers. We will work as hard as we can to ease the requirements, but the fact is that this is the result of Brexit. This is the Single Market that Margaret Thatcher and others, including Charles Haughey, put together. They eliminated those barriers. By leaving the Single Market, Britain has raised them again. There will be UK import controls as well, which will bring more challenges for our businesses. We have been expecting them for some time but Britain keeps postponing them. These will be a problem for food businesses in particular. We are investing substantially in additional State capacity to meet certification needs, as well as providing guidance, advice and support for exporters.

Of course, it is not just business that is affected by the withdrawal of the UK. The report recognises the impact it has had on individual citizens in areas such as health, education and data flows. There have been positive developments in these areas, such as the EU adequacy decisions, but we must continue to monitor the issue closely. In my opinion, the biggest change and difficulty has been the rules of origin. A number of Senators mentioned that. The Taoiseach, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, and I have raised this at the highest level and we will continue to do so. It is having a massively detrimental impact on business, so we continue to work on it.

Senator Malcolm Byrne referred to Rosslare Europort. There has been work done in that regard. I visited Rosslare Europort and a lot of work has been carried out there. Unfortunately, Brexit has caused this problem. Space is limited there, but the Government is keeping everything under review. Some 1,500 staff have been engaged there since the start of the year.

The issue of tourism is very important. It has been mentioned that it must be done on an all-Ireland basis. Tourism Ireland is an all-Ireland, cross-Border body. We will continue to see that when it promotes Ireland for tourism, it is the island of Ireland it is promoting. That has to continue.

Senators Martin, Murphy and Ó Donnghaile referred to cross-community relations. That is very important. It is important that a strong message is conveyed from this Chamber and the Oireachtas that the concerns of unionists are understood and that the protocol, in particular, is not a threat to anybody's identity. It simply cannot affect the constitutional status of Northern Ireland. Whether one is a nationalist or a unionist, one probably feels more protected within the European Union. If one is somebody who does not want to leave the European Union, one is happier there. However, even from a unionist point of view, one will be more closely integrated with everybody within the European Union. Also, we cannot exaggerate the effects. There are supermarkets there that have not featured in the newspapers and that have had no problems. Senator Ó Donnghaile lives in Belfast. I visited supermarkets on a fact-finding mission and there was plenty of food and no issues. Some supermarkets are substituting as well. We also know that Northern Ireland has some of the largest pig processing factories, probably in the world. That got lost during the summer. The protocol is a huge opportunity for them. We must continue to remind people that Northern Ireland is open for business. One of the difficulties with all the uncertainty coming from London is that if a business is planning to invest in Northern Ireland it does not know what is happening. We have the protocol and we have to bring certainty to it. We must work with it.

Engagement in Northern Ireland is important. It was good and welcome that Vice President Šefovi visited and spent two full days there, which is longer than most Ministers will spend on engagements in another country. It was two full days of listening to communities. That was important, and they felt they were being listened to as well. MEPs will continue that. We will encourage that. I want MEPs to do it, and not just our MEPs but also MEPs from across Europe. Earlier this year, I had the Portuguese Minister, who holds the Presidency of the Council, engage with civil society in Northern Ireland and I am hoping to do that with the Slovenian Presidency as well. That will be welcome from the Council point of view. The Senator mentioned the North-South consultative forum and civil society. That would be good and important. We have already started that in terms of listening to civil society in Northern Ireland and on our side in the Council of Ministers and I want to see how we can develop that further. It is about people being listened to and giving their ideas.

On the health issue, that scheme is there and the plan is to put it on a permanent legislative basis. That will continue but, again, it is a problem because of Brexit. That is the truth. It is a European directive that gave rights to us and to citizens in Northern Ireland and in Newcastle, but it is gone because of this decision. We see roaming charges back in the UK. That is a tragedy. It was all too predictable. We must keep reminding people of the advantages of the protocol. We are certainly not out of the woods with regard to lorry drivers or the supply issues that Britain is facing because this is an island nation. I will not count my chickens too quickly, but the truth is that we have not had the same disruption as Great Britain has had. That is because of our membership of the European Union and the stability it gives. One lorry driver quoted in the Financial Timessaid that he feels European when he comes to the Netherlands and to Ireland, but that he does not have the same feeling in Britain.

We are all one. When it comes to referendums and when parties oppose the European Union I always say that there is give and take. The take we all get from working together is far greater than what we all give individually. We need to remember that about our membership of the European Union. We have to be passionate about that membership. We are approaching the 50th anniversary of accession. We joined the EEC in 1973. There are many events happening and I think the first Seanad debate will probably be sooner than that. It will be worth recalling that sometime early next year because the Taoiseach at the time signed the accession treaty in February 1972. There will be one country not the table next year because it will be Ireland and Denmark remembering that event, rather than Ireland, Denmark and the UK. That will be a pity.We have to be passionate about the benefits of this, as given to us, and we need to keep reminding people that we cannot take these things for granted. That sense of being European is a major advantage to us.

I have much more to say but I am running out of time. I have tried to answer most of the questions put forward. I thank Senators for the calm nature of this debate and for the process in which they have engaged. They have also been firm that there are agreements between the EU and the United Kingdom; they have to stick to their agreements, as we do. That is to everybody's benefit. There is major work under way between the EU and the UK to try to make sure the protocol will operate in the most efficient way possible. It will still be there but it will work efficiently so we can ensure the problems we see in Britain do not transfer to Northern Ireland.

I welcome the ongoing work. I hope it will result in what we need most - certainty. We can then have discussions on other issues and start moving on. We will see what the next generation in the UK brings to the table in terms of where it sees its destiny. I certainly hope at some point in the future that destiny will return that country and, indeed, the North of Ireland to the EU, which has proven to be the greatest peace process in the history of the world and which was an inspiration for the peace process in Northern Ireland. It is our complete objective to sustain and maintain that and to bring economic prosperity North and South.