Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In response to Deputy Connolly, tá náire orm. I know that almost every week, she stands up in the Dáil and asks when this legislation will be published. Each time she does, I get a little bit more embarrassed that we have not yet published it and that we keep telling her it is imminent when it does not arrive. I do not know if it is achievable or not but I will set that Cabinet meeting as the target date for doing it because we should do something Gaeltacht related there as well. Let me act on that.

In response to Senator Richmond's questions about Brexit preparedness, we have statistics about how prepared businesses are and so on. We have a red, amber and green matrix regarding what is done, what is not done and what is in planning. We are in pretty good shape in terms of being prepared for no deal, but that is not in any way to diminish the seriousness of it and the impact it will have. Our preparedness is good. I had a very good meeting with Mr. Corbyn and his team today. I met one to one and we then met as a group and spoke about a lot of issues, including Northern Ireland and Brexit. I emphasised to him that while any change to the political declaration is possible, the withdrawal agreement is closed and the only way this could ever change would be if there was a fundamental change in red lines from the next UK Prime Minister or the next UK Government, for example, a decision to stay in the customs union or the Single Market. I think that was well understood by Mr. Corbyn.

We also talked about how hard it would be to secure a further extension beyond 31 October. There is a hardening view across the EU that we cannot continue to have rolling extensions. While there could be a further extension if there is an election, to allow that election to happen, or a second referendum, it is not viable to believe there would be unanimous support in the European Council, as that is what is required, for a further extension while the United Kingdom continues to figure it out or for another set of indicative votes. I imparted the message, as politely as I could, that the chances of a further extension are quite slim and the withdrawal agreement, including the Irish protocol and the backstop, is closed from our point of view.