Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am sure the Taoiseach will agree that Brexit is particularly impactful on Northern Ireland and on the island of Ireland and demands an urgent response from all concerned. Some 63% of people in Northern Ireland voted and a majority of them opted to remain within the European Union. The prospect of Northern Ireland being taken out of the European Union without the consent of the people there is now a very live one.

In that context, the Taoiseach floated the idea of an all-Ireland forum on Brexit. His Ministers, including the Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, spoke fulsomely about it on "The Week in Politics" programme on Sunday. I am surprised, however, because many people would have thought that if Ministers are speaking so liberally about it, work would have gone on behind the scenes to prepare the ground for such an eventuality. It was therefore with great surprise that one heard Northern Ireland's First Minister, Arlene Foster, say that she had not been approached in advance. She said: "It wasn't discussed with me over the weekend or indeed before, and it wasn't discussed at the NSMC [North South Ministerial Council] today." In essence, that conveyed a perception of something of a shambles, of an incoherent all-island response to Brexit which constitutes such a severe threat to trade and to the economic well-being of the people of this island.

Can the Taoiseach explain why no attempt was made to speak to Arlene Foster and others prior to the North-South Ministerial Council and prior to the idea of a forum being floated by him and his Ministers without any advance warning, notice or engagement, if indeed that was the case, with the First Minister and others?

We know that in not doing that he would be ensuring the idea never gets off the ground. The fate of Northern Ireland and the island of Ireland is central to the negotiations that have to take place over the coming months place between London, Dublin, Belfast and Brussels. The impact of this on the island of Ireland as a single market and as a economic area will be immense if it is not handled carefully, professionally and properly. It calls for a specialised and more focused approach.

Will the Taoiseach indicate, first, if he had any engagement with the First Minister prior to the idea of an all-island forum on Brexit being floated and, second, what he proposes to do in relation to this particular idea of forum or to ensure a proper response to Brexit in the context of Northern Ireland and the island of Ireland?

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