Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is clear that the ultra-left and the ultra-right stood as one to bring about a disastrous result in Britain as the Trots stood with Farage, Johnson and Gove to do untold damage to our prospects as the people of Ireland, North and South. My focus, however, is not on the plans that those on the ultra-left see, with no amount of chaos being too much for them in order to see themselves thriving. We must now put this country first.

I ask the Taoiseach for specifics. The front runner in the Tory leadership election seems to be Ms Theresa May and she has indicated she will not invoke Article 50 of the treaties of the European Union until, at the earliest, next year. We should give the space for that. There is a very divided view coming from Europe, with a very strong negative view coming from the Commission and, bluntly, my socialist colleague in the Parliament. There is a more measured response from President Tusk. What is the Taoiseach's view on the timing of the invocation of Article 50 and what we should be doing bilaterally with Britain and trilaterally with Britain and the European Union to shape our position? We are the most affected nation, other than the UK itself, by all of this so we should have a very clear strategy for what we want to emerge at the end of negotiations, even before those negotiations begin.

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