Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge Senator Currie's contribution and those of many other colleagues. What we are hearing from the UK today is atrocious. Naomi Long, head of the Alliance Party, spoke on Radio 1 this morning. She was very clear that the majority of people in Northern Ireland, and the majority of MLAs, who are the representatives of Northern Ireland, wish to see an operational Northern Ireland protocol. She spoke very clearly about the importance for the communities in Northern Ireland and how it is about quality of life in Northern Ireland and their economy. The economies of two regions in the UK are flying and Northern Ireland is one of them. That is because of the access to the Single Market, as well as access to the UK market. This protocol has been agreed and signed up to. What is happening now is absolutely shocking. It is great to see the leadership we are seeing from some of the Northern Ireland representatives.We need to see more, though. The DUP is not representative of the overall majority in Northern Ireland.