Seymour Crawford tribute and BIPA
Senator Feighan paid tribute to Seymour Crawford and referred to the recent British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly meeting before his remarks were cut off.
I also remember the late former Deputy Seymour Crawford, with whom I served from 2002 to 2011. He was, as Senator Gallagher stated, a gentle giant and an honourable, decent and respectful man. He will be much missed by his colleagues in Leinster House and his constituents. As Senator Leyden said, Seymour did more for North-South relations on the island of Ireland than most, including through his work in the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly. He certainly made a difference.
Last weekend we had an interesting few days at the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly meeting in the UK. I thank the Co-Chairs, Deputy Seán Crowe and Mr. Andrew Rosindell, MP, who commemorated the centenary of the ending of the First World War with dignity and respect at Westminster yesterday.
We have moved forward in many ways, given that we can now commemorate and respect the up to 50,000 Irish men, including the 30,000 from the Twenty-six Counties who were forgotten, although that is for another day.
Yesterday we held some meetings with Ms Karen Bradley. We told her that under no circumstances would there be a hard border on the island of Ireland. People, particularly in the UK, are talking about 98%, 95% or 90% of the deal being done. No deal will be done on Brexit if the Border is not respected and the Good Friday Agreement is not implemented in full. Those are the sticking points. Ms Bradley was asked how the UK could ever be trusted again if it did not respect a written guarantee. She effectively stated that the UK would not renege on its Border agreement. I hope so.
Seymour Crawford was a decent, honourable and honest man and will be missed.