Checks at Sea Ports

Part of Question for Urgent Oral Answer — Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs – in the Northern Ireland Assembly at 3:45 pm on 7 February 2022.

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Photo of Edwin Poots Edwin Poots DUP 3:45, 7 February 2022

I will point out to the Member that I am not part of the negotiations. I wish that I was, but I am not. The negotiations take place between the United Kingdom Government and the European Union, and they are not about Brexit; they are about the protocol. I have engaged consistently, particularly with Her Majesty's Government, to the point where we got the operational Command Paper, which was a significant step forward. Then we got the negotiations reopened with the European Union, and I have engaged with Maroš Šefcovic.

We need to be clear that the negotiations have been running on for many months now. We need to get down to the detail and to get the negotiations concluded, because what we have is unacceptable. If the European Union does not care about the peace process in Northern Ireland, it will continue to dig its heels in, to drag its feet and to oppose change. If people here are foolish enough to encourage it to do that, the consequences will be massive damage to the political process.