I thank Joyce Watson for that, Llywydd. I, too, welcome any progress made on resolving the outstanding issues on the Northern Ireland protocol. During the time that there has been no Executive in Northern Ireland, I have kept in contact with all the main party leaders. During the autumn, I met with Michelle O'Neill as leader of Sinn Féin, I spoke with Jeffrey Donaldson as the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, and I held meetings with Doug Beattie, the Ulster Unionist Party leader, and with the leaders of the Social Democratic and Labour Party. I did that in order to convey to them the interest that the Welsh Government has in making sure that there is a functioning Executive there in Northern Ireland able to be in the room when we conduct discussions between the four nations of the United Kingdom. 

In the meantime, Joyce Watson is absolutely right, Llywydd, that the terms of the withdrawal agreement from the European Union handed Welsh ports a clear competitive disadvantage. Irish businesses bypass the land bridge in favour of direct links to EU ports in France and Spain. Prior to leaving the European Union, Rosslare had, as I remember, four major routes, and they were between the island of Ireland and Welsh ports. Now, there are 40 routes out of Rosslare and they're going directly to the European Union, to the single market, despite the fact that it takes longer to do so and it's more expensive to do so. But they're doing so because of the barriers to trade that they now face when they route goods through Welsh ports and on to the European Union through Dover. 

On the Prime Minister's excitement at having created a position for Northern Ireland where they have access both to the UK single market and the EU single market, I was tempted to write to him asking him if he could find the same advantages for Wales as well, because it is absolutely an irony that he should celebrate something that he himself worked so hard to deny to the rest of the United Kingdom. 

Joyce Watson asks what could be done by the UK Government. There are simple things that they could do, Llywydd, that would enhance the prospects of barrier-free trade between Welsh ports and our most important and nearest neighbour. They could, for example, negotiate a veterinary agreement with the EU. That would remove entirely the need for sanitary and phytosanitary checks at Welsh ports. We have traded successfully with goods coming from the Republic of Ireland through Wales for 50 years without the need for such checks to be in place. A sensible UK Government would come to a veterinary agreement and we'd be back to where we were before, to quote yesterday's Financial Times, the folly of Brexit was imposed upon us.