Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Callinan for his contributions. On the issue of a veto, we have an unprecedented situation in British-Irish relations where all through history, through the good times and the bad, the relationship was always negotiated between Ireland and Britain. For the first time in history, the future of Ireland's relationship with the UK will be negotiated between the UK and a third party. We have one seat at a table of 27 and while we have some warm words, we are nonetheless one of 27, and it represents an unprecedented risk to us.

The Spanish got a veto on the future relationships with Gibraltar. I take the point that if the future relationship is a mixed agreement, it is possible that member states, including Ireland, will have a veto. However, the ECJ ruling today lays out, in its agreement with Singapore, that on practically every issue there would be no member state veto. The ECJ ruling is important because it lays out where Ireland would not have a veto, assuming the same legal opinion is used. That would include access to EU markets for goods and services including transport, procurement, energy generation, foreign direct investment, intellectual property rights, anti-competitive activity, sustainable development, exchange of information and so on. What the ECJ is saying is that in all of these areas, member states do not have competence. Following that, in all of those areas Ireland would not have a veto on any future relationship between the UK and the European Union.

The ECJ ruling goes on to state that only in two areas does the agreement with Singapore encroach into member state competence. One of them is portfolio investment, or non-direct investment, and the second is dispute resolution between investors and the states. That is reasonably technical bureaucratic stuff, but on the day-to-day issues that will affect Irish farmers, business people and citizens looking not just to travel to the UK but also to work and reside there, the ECJ ruling would suggest that we will not have a veto. This is an unprecedented situation where, essentially, Ireland is not a lead negotiator in its own future relationship with the UK. I am hearing from numerous sources who are talking to groups around Europe, that, at a minimum, France, Germany and some other member states have a fairly hostile view of these negotiations. They see it as an opportunity to teach the UK a lesson. Did the Irish Government seek a veto on any aspects of our future relationship with the UK?