Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To clarify, four member states, namely, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands and Poland already have submitted reasoned opinions. The United Kingdom may do so and others, such as Lithuania, Sweden and Denmark, are considering it. The information I have to hand is they are at the same stage as Ireland. The deadline for the submission of a reasoned opinion is 13 May and consequently, the joint committee must make up its mind next week. The background in this regard is that Ireland's holding of the EU Presidency obviously means we must maintain a neutral stance. This is a matter with which Lithuania must deal during its EU Presidency.

If the reasoned opinions, and four have already been submitted, are only being submitted on 13 May, it will not be possible for it to be brought to a conclusion in the six remaining weeks of the Irish EU Presidency. I propose that we suspend the meeting to consider the information from the Department in private session now. Is that agreed? Agreed.

I thank the witnesses for attending the joint committee. The information they provided is important for us to do our job correctly. We needed the information in that context. We will now suspend the meeting while the officials withdraw and will then go into private session.