Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom ábhar iontach tábhachtach a ardú ar maidin. As Senator O'Loughlin has referred to, last night, the British House of Commons voted to effectively introduce a hard border for some people travelling from the South into the North of Ireland. The Deputy Leader will know that this is an issue I have been raising concerns about in the Seanad for a period of weeks, if not months. I have been highlighting the very real dangers of this particular legislation. From a political perspective, I find the intent behind the Nationality and Borders Bill quite repugnant but, nevertheless, I choose to focus on this issue because it has direct implications for citizens here.

I will refer to some of the concerns. In the first instance, there is a concern that pertains to people from the Leas-Chathaoirleach's own county of Cavan. I refer to people who have come there to live and work or even just to visit and who want to move just a short bit up the road, whether for tourism, work, study or shopping or to see a doctor. The outworking of this legislation is that such people will have to apply for an electronic travel authorisation. I am fully aware of the Deputy Leader's investment in this issue. When we committed to the withdrawal agreement, we did not say that there would be no hard border for some people but that there would be for others. We were very clear in our intent and understanding.

One of the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement is the all-Ireland bodies. Tourism Ireland is one of these bodies. It works internationally to promote Ireland as one unit as a tourism destination. With the outworking of this legislation, we will see non-Irish and non-British EU citizens coming to this jurisdiction and wishing to visit the North to see the iconic Giant's Causeway, to visit Derry or to see Titanic Belfast having to apply for an electronic waiver. How does that sit within the context of an all-Ireland body that arises from the Good Friday Agreement?

Last week, we saw another invitation extended to the US President, Joe Biden, who is an Irish-American very proud of his Irish heritage. If he leads a delegation here including Congressman Richard Neal and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, all of whom have been steadfast in ensuring that there would be no diminution of rights and no threat to the Good Friday Agreement, will they have to apply for an electronic travel authorisation if they want to go up the road? This is quite stark. It may not impact on us but the intent behind this move is quite devastating for the people it will impact upon. We need to hear more from the Irish Government than that it raised the matter with the British Government and was ignored. We have to do much better than that. We have to call on all of our diplomatic wherewithal and might. I am not really sure what we can do at this stage because the legislation is going through Westminster and has passed, but we need to do something.