H.E. Mr. Robin Barnett:

Thank you Chairman. I thank the members for a very comprehensive range of questions. I will do my best to answer as many as I can but members will appreciate that some of the more technical questions will, inevitably, be outside my immediate range of expertise.

I am very confident of one thing, namely, that we will be continuing this dialogue in the future.

Let me do my best to respond to some of the issues which have been raised. I will begin by reminding members of what the Prime Minister wrote. We are looking for "a deep and special partnership" that takes in both security and economic co-operation, with a "bold and ambitious" free trade agreement, greater in scope than any such agreement before. We want to work towards a comprehensive agreement with "a fair settlement of the UK's rights and obligations as a departing EU member state," and to "agree the terms of our future partnership alongside those of our withdrawal from the EU." In respect of implementation periods, as we move to the new relationship we want to minimise disruption from any suggestion of a "cliff-edge." It is very much in that context that I would like to try to answer some of the specific points that have been put.

In different ways, the issue of bilateral institutions has been raised. I stress that we in the UK attach great importance to continuing to strengthen bilateral institutions and contacts. We are in complete agreement about the importance of parliamentary contacts at all levels. I have spoken about this on a number of occasions. I agree that we need to look at all the existing institutions and make sure that they meet the needs of our future relationships. A priority for me, too, is to continue to ensure that there is good engagement between parliamentary committees here and in the UK on issues of general interest, in other words, the broad range of parliamentary business in which the Houses of the Oireachtas and both Houses of the UK Parliament engage. That will be an area of great importance in the future.

As I already stated, the annual meeting of Secretaries General and permanent undersecretaries is an incredibly important institution. We will want to make sure that we maintain a strong level of contact between officials. The flow of ministerial visits since I arrived here is an indication of the political importance we attach to the bilateral relationship, and I can confirm that there will be plenty more such visits in the pipeline in both directions. I can definitely confirm our interest in making sure that we have strong and effective engagement going forward.

Senator Richmond mentioned the importance of the Commonwealth for the UK. I can absolutely confirm that. We will continue to see the Commonwealth as a very important institution. It has done a lot of good work since its foundation in every conceivable area, from economics through education and culture, as well as work in the field of human rights.

In response to the questions that several honourable members put regarding how the talks should be conducted, this is, of course, the opening of a negotiation. Such matters will need to be agreed between the European Union and the United Kingdom. As my Prime Minister pointed out in the Article 50 letter, our strong view is that the talks on leaving the European Union should be conducted alongside the negotiations on a new deep and special partnership. We think that this is firmly in the best interests of the EU, the UK and Ireland for all the reasons that many members have adduced, namely, the importance of clarity and of certainty for the future.

Let me turn to questions around the Border. It is clear that the common travel area, which predates our and Ireland's membership of the European Union, is the way forward in terms of ensuring free movement of people. In terms of free movement of goods and related issues, while there are challenges, we firmly believe that the basis for an effective way forward is a bold and ambitious free trade agreement between the UK and the EU. To those who say that this may be hard to achieve within a timescale, I would respectfully observe that this is not about how to identify convergence or common standards; we are already starting from a shared place. Many of the complications that people adduce about concluding a free trade agreement are not appropriate when we are starting from a position of equivalence.

A number of questions have been posed around the implications for the Northern Ireland peace process. We are committed to implementing the Belfast Agreement and its successors. Human rights protection for all in Northern Ireland is part of that and will continue to be. In terms of the representation of the people of Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom Government will be negotiating on behalf of the whole of the United Kingdom. As the members will know, there are mechanisms in place to ensure that the views of the devolved administrations are taken into account into that process. That is why a priority for our Government and for the Government of Ireland is to reinstate the Northern Ireland Executive as quickly as possible. As the members will know, discussions on that process are continuing on an ongoing basis.

In terms of the issues around the rights of citizens, I think my Prime Minister has been crystal clear.

This is an absolute top priority for my government. We will continue to make it a top priority and we very much hope that we will be able to provide the certainty that is required as soon as possible. I must, however, remind the committee that this will very much be a negotiation.

In terms of references to Gibraltar, our focus in the forthcoming negotiations on Brexit is to ensure that we get the best possible deal in trade and other matters, and co-operation for the future for the UK and for Gibraltar. We will be working closely with the Gibraltar Government as we have been over recent months. We will continue to do that to ensure that we get a result that is in the interests of the United Kingdom, in the interests of Gibraltar and of the 27 member states of the European Union.

I was asked whether people are focused on the specific problems of our bilateral relationship. I give the committee a categorical assurance that they are. The range of engagement between our two governments is a partial demonstration of that but I can assure the committee that as we prepare for the forthcoming negotiations there is a great deal of focus on the specific challenges, not least the issues that many Members of the Oireachtas have raised here today with respect to delivering a border that is as seamless and frictionless as possible.

There was a suggestion that we might need legislation to solidify the Good Friday Agreement. This is an international agreement to which we remain 100% committed. The committee may have seen a statement to that effect very recently by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, James Brokenshire. In terms of the possibility of an eventual border poll the arrangements on that are spelled out extremely clearly in the Belfast Agreement.

There were several quite technical and detailed questions including around issues such as pensions. Rather than attempt to give answers we will come back to the members, if we may, after we have had a chance to consult on some of these technical issues.

Finally, I firmly believe that we will be able to achieve the deep and strong and special partnership with the EU that my Prime Minister has set out in the Article 50 letter. In this process we are very mindful of the importance of our bilateral relationship with Ireland. We are actively engaged in looking at creative solutions to problems and challenges, although some of those creative solutions will not just come from governments but from the talent that exists in our private sectors in Ireland and in the United Kingdom. I would also like to stress that we are not just focused on the Article 50 negotiations. As many members of the committee have indicated, there is a very strong economic partnership between our two countries. That continues today. We are actively looking for opportunities to strengthen that partnership in a range of areas, one good example being medtech but there are many more. Our focus at the British Embassy in Dublin is not only on the work we need to do in respect of the Article 50 letter but also to identify ways, as many members have indicated, of strengthening our partnership for the future.