Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The funding issue is very important and will be a core part of the discussions. The EU have said that Ireland must be sorted. It would be very helpful if, in the historic example of the previous funding programme broken down on the 60:40 basis, we could arrive at a figure. This would enable us to say that were this programme replicated post Brexit, this is what the cost would be to the Irish taxpayer, this is what the EU would contribute and this is what the British taxpayer would contribute. That is essential to our work as we do not wish to merely state that programmes should continue. We need hard numbers. The EU wants hard numbers in order to be able to say to Britain, when negotiating the divorce settlement, that certain things have to continue. If that could be supplied it would be very helpful.