I would like to comment on the second question and make some suggestions about the third. While the Good Friday Agreement rightly attracts much attention, the GFA does not exhaust the complexity or the innovative nature of constitution making in the British Isles. By constitution-making I mean the evocation of fundamental rules that frame collective action. The Common Travel Area, the Ireland Act of 1949, the devolution settlements in the UK and the various decisions around the Crown dependencies are all examples of constitution making. This complex history offers a tremendous resource for innovation in this current phase of constitutional readjustment. However, if the British Isles are not understood properly a British exit from the European Union that is overly focused on the sovereignty of the UK could fail to respect this complexity. The debate on the Irish border before Christmas was worrying precisely because it drifted toward an unnecessarily binary problem of sovereign borders. I suggest that the committee could consider Brexit and Northern Ireland in the context of this rich constitutional history. It is clear that the solution to the economic problem that Northern Ireland will face if access to either the Irish or British market is restricted, has to have a political solution, but that solution will be hard to find if the problem is exclusively framed in terms of Ireland.

Trade: at present there are a number of companies that won’t ship to NI and we must use the same company based in Ireland. There are also some companies that ignore NI - such as crown paints, who will ship to GB and Ireland but not NI. Amazon won’t ship (e.g. lithium batteries) here and there is no Irish site to purchase from, leaving the people of NI at a disadvantage. Lakeland also has a number of items that they won’t send here. Movement over the border: NI does not have a true international airport so for a lot of travel we must go to Dublin. Checks will impact on our journey times and also our ability to travel under Irish passports. If I travel from Dublin under an Irish passport I should not face a check when I drive over the border as I will be travelling as an Irish citizen. Funding: Universities and farmers all rely on EU money. The British govt can’t guarantee this money indefinitely, thus putting jobs at risk. Border poll: there has not been a border poll. At each and every election in NI we should be made to tick the box for tea or no to a border poll. The govt can’t say there is no appetite if no opinion polls have been held. At best, a border poll should be held every 5-10 years anyway. Stormont and the DUP MPs: the DUP do not represent the will of the people in NI as we voted to remain. They are actively working against the people here by pushing a brexit agenda. Our voice is not being heard in Britain and they constantly block freedoms here (abortion, gay rights, rights for anyone with a nationalist background). The DUP are committing administrative negligence by ignoring how we voted. They will never allow a border poll as they have forgotten they signed the GFA and happily ride roughshod over the rights enshrined in it. In particular, Mrs A Foster represents a border county who voted overwhelmingly to remain (for the British govt, overwhelmingly is not a slender margin of a 4% win) yet she insists on pushing through a brexit agenda. This was not what people voted for.

For Northern Ireland it’s a disaster. Any semblance of a border carry’s obvious risks here. Joining the EU was the best thing happened here since partition as all sides were living under the EU banner. It brought us equality that wasn’t controlled by London or Dublin. Please let us remain in the Eurozone. Britain can go its own way.

Brexit is create a displacement of fishing effort in areas previously governed by EU qouta divisions in allocations among member states. In the future UK will receive additional quotas which will then be caught in more specific fishing areas creating over exploitation in these areas. This will in turn lead to species stock depletion.

Brexit is a complete disaster for Northern Ireland, a region which is geographically isolated from Britain stands to become further isolated from its closest neighbour in the Republic of Ireland. It is imperative that any gardening of the border is avoided, for economic and social reasons. It is also imperative for the peace process, already under strain due to a year without a stormont executive.

Brexit is an absolute disaster for Northern Ireland. It is imperative that a hard border is avoided, otherwise this region which is isolated from Britain by the Irish Sea, will also be isolated from its closest neighbour. This is not to mention the effects on the peace process, which isn’t already under immense strain due to the ongoing lack of a devolved institution in stormont. The GFA has the European court of human rights underpinning it, seen as a necessary and independent arbiter by those on both but particularly the Irish nationalist side. European funding of peace programs also needs to be protected.

The Irish government Brexit paper had said there is no legal impediment to continuing the Common Travel Area. The UK & Ireland currently have various joint visa programmes along with passenger data sharing. The 2011 UK-Ireland Accord puts fun emphasis on securing the border at the Common Travel Area level including the ability to stop illegal immigration into the Common Travel Area. This is augmented by Operation Gull involving the Garda PSNI, Police Scotland & the Home Office. It sad been suggested Northern Ireland may be a back door for illegal immigration Is it the case that things will largely remain the same after Brexit with EU citizens enjoying something like Australians do ie 90 day visa free travel to Northern Ireland & GB?

There has been several reports cited recently around how much trade with the EU would be lost in the case of a "hard Brexit". Most of these reports (thinking of the Livestock & Meat Commission report) also list significant opportunities to increase trade, particularly to Great Britain. How much trade does Northern Ireland stand to gain with Great Britain under the various Brexit options & similarly how much with the rest of the world?

I’m originally from Newry which a border town on the main route between Belfast and Dublin. Having been born in 1980 I have seen many ups and downs in this town due to the troubles and remember the border/customs checks. There is a seamless journey from Northern Ireland and the Republic with many people living on one side of the border and working/shopping/going to school/Dentist on the other. Newry of course happens to be a predominant nationalist town with many people identifying themselves as Irish rather than British and a hard border could destabilize the peace especially if there was the feeling that those who choose to carry an Irish passport rather than a British passport, which is a right to those in Northern Ireland under the Good Friday agreement, were to be seen as inferior to those who carried a British passport then that certainly could stoke sectarian tensions. There has been great cooperation between Northern Ireland and the Republic in recent years especially in terms of healthcare with the local hospital Daisy Hill providing dialysis services to patients from county Louth in the Republic and being remunerated for by the HSC in the Republic. I fear this sort of cooperation could also be severely impacted. These are only some reasons why I feel Northern Ireland, Newry in particular, would be affected. However I feel that Northern Ireland as a whole will be most severely impacted by Brexit in the UK.

As a N.I. Resident, I have a concern that the impact on political stability in Ireland has not been properly considered by the UK government. In addition economic stability especially in relation to people involved in the agrifood industry is at risk. Without full representation at Westminster and a functioning Assembly there is a danger that our views will not be heard in understood.