Speeches by Hanna.

“The committee suggested they would access UK officials directly, and you suggested that NI civil servants would be empowered to provide that advice. What is the reasoning behind that?”

“That is service!”

“Thank you very much, Lord Murphy, for your work on the review. I know that my party would have preferred a bit more focus on north-south and the island economy in the terms of reference, but the report was really fair and constructive within the terms you had. I want to ask about your recommendations on the Democratic …”

“Looking at the Commission’s proposals and the Q&A on their website, it looks like there is a massive advantage for Northern Ireland in how they propose to treat the region on that. Is that not something the Government should be shouting about? Are we sometimes victim of how proposals are being read in other parts of th…”

“What does the application of the EU steel safeguards mean for Northern Ireland?”

“Lord Murphy’s report talked about how little is made of dual market access. Do you think there are more opportunities to promote the differential and positive impact of our dual market access?”

“But I presume that the feedback that Lord Murphy captured, the views he encountered and the suggestions he made will frame your future engagement with the EU more widely.”

“Minister Thomas-Symonds, what do you hope to achieve from discussions with the EU about the report? Will you come back to this Committee after that?”

“You will be raising the recommendations in the report with the Joint Committee. When do you think that will happen?”

“To be honest, the first year or two was probably a fairly slow period for the production of legislation, because of the European elections and the reforming of the Commission, so they probably haven’t seen anything yet.”

“And that is not happening currently?”

“You say, perhaps diplomatically, that they could take a more strategic approach. Where do you think that strategy should come from?”

“But you do not think they should get some of that engagement and advice directly from UK Government officials?”

“The committee suggested they would access UK officials directly, and you suggested that NI civil servants would be empowered to provide that advice. What is the reasoning behind that?”

“That is service!”

“When you say fixed voting time, do you mean the guillotine of the debate ending?”

“Thank you very much to all of you. William, in the Lough Neagh action plan, DAERA estimates that 62% of the phosphorus pollution comes from agricultural sources. Is that your understanding?”

“You would not dispute that intensification of farming over that period—I think they said since 2012, but over the last decade—has reversed some of the water quality improvements.”

“Other factors are at play, but is it fairly indisputable that that intensification without mitigations—and I am going to come on to some of those mitigations and the support that is needed—has contributed to a decline in water quality?”

“I am not trying to be blamey, because I want to talk about Farming with Nature and the supports that are and are not available. I believe that farmers, particularly family farms, are trying to achieve the same balance. I am trying to see where there is agreement that that intensification has been a contribution.”