Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On the trust question, now is not the time for me to talk about who is at fault throughout these negotiations over the past nine months. There will be plenty of opportunity to do that if we can get an agreement. I am anxious to focus on the limited but nevertheless evident progress over the past ten days or so and to try to encourage that progress even further. It is not helpful for me to talk about how people have behaved or what they have said over the past ten months or so. Clearly, it has put a heavy strain on relationships between the EU and the UK, between Ireland and the UK, and at times also between the UK and Washington in regard to the concerns coming from the White House and others on Capitol Hill. However, there will be a time to discuss all that. For now, we have a little bit of momentum in these talks and we should focus on that. I will encourage both sides to try to make progress.

When I said that the British negotiating tactic has been very successful, that is true in terms of delivering concessions and flexibility from the EU, but it is not true in terms of reputation and relationships which are very important for a country the size of the UK and a country as globalised as the UK. That is all I will say on it.

As for the next steps in regard to momentum, there are two very experienced and smart negotiators with very good teams supporting them. Let us hope that they get the political instruction to do a deal, because that is what is needed here. Negotiating teams can only do what the key decision makers, politically, allow them to do. What is needed between now and Christmas is for the British Prime Minister to give a signal to Lord Frost that we need to try to conclude these negotiations and get the best deal available, and we need a signal from President von der Leyen to Vice-President Šefovi that he needs to do the same. I have spent a good deal of time speaking to Maroš Šefovi. We are very lucky to have Mr. Šefovi. He is very interested in Ireland and Northern Ireland. He is very interested in being helpful and in solutions. He has pushed the Commission really hard, right to the edge of the boundaries of what is legally consistent with the protocol. That is because he wants to get a deal done. They are very much in that space. I hope the British side is too. They have achieved much in this negotiation in regard to changing how the protocol is both perceived and implemented but, as Mr. Šefovi said, if they ask for the impossible, then it cannot be delivered. That is a political choice for the Prime Minister. I am more hopeful now than I was a fortnight ago. Is this hugely frustrating? Yes, of course it is. We thought this issue was put to bed. Do not forget, the protocol was agreed two years ago but on 17 December 2020, the British Government agreed an implementation plan for the protocol. Michael Gove was then the key negotiator and he agreed that with Maroš Šefovi. The approach changed then, as January and February passed. The personalities on the British side changed from Michael Gove being the lead negotiator to Lord Frost being the lead negotiator and, as I said, they have achieved much since then.

The EU is getting close to its horizon of what it can do. Hopefully, that is recognised in London.

Regarding the positives for Northern Ireland, finally some people are starting to talk about that. Instead of politicians leading the debate, industry is starting to be part of that discussion in a major way. Some people have asked me if there is a threat that businesses and investment in the Republic may potentially go north? I do not see that as a threat. I would welcome a significant increase in investment in Northern Ireland. It is good for the all-island economy and, God knows, Northern Ireland deserves it, given the pulling and dragging that Northern Ireland has had to put up with throughout the Brexit debates and so on. I would not begrudge Northern Ireland that economic success at all. We have a very competitive proposition for foreign direct investment south of the Border but increasingly now, there is a strong and growing proposition for foreign direct investment in Northern Ireland. Personally I would welcome that. It is a great opportunity.

The Senator mentioned the mechanisms and compensation for tariffs. First, the TCA guarantees there are no tariffs, unless the TCA is called into question because the protocol gets called into question, as the two are interlinked. It would be incredibly frustrating if, after all the negotiations, decisions and compromises to get the TCA and withdrawal agreement in place, all of that started to unravel because of a unilateral decision in London. I hope that does not happen but if it does happen, the EU is prepared for that, I would say. I do not want to go into that too much because, again, I do not want to focus on failure when we need to be focusing on achieving an agreement and a compromise.

On minimum unit pricing for alcohol, which does not have anything to do with the protocol or Brexit, when I say we could not get the Executive in Northern Ireland to agree, I do not think that is fully fair. We have certainly indicated that we would like to do this on an all-island basis because we do not want people going across the Border to shop for cheap alcohol because we have introduced minimum pricing here. We believe it is a good public health measure to ensure that alcohol is not being used as a loss-leader or being sold for half nothing and being abused as a result. We believe that has worked in other jurisdictions and it will work here. We would of course like Northern Ireland to do this with us at the same time but we do not have any guarantees on that and we cannot wait forever. The Government's view on this is we would like to do this on an all-island basis if we can but, if not, we need to move ahead anyway. We need to try to manage the cross-Border trade consequences of that as best we can.