Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Will the Taoiseach consider establishing a forum on Anglo-Irish relations outside the North-South Ministerial Council and outside any veto that any party might have within it? It is the sort of forum we need, like the Forum for Europe, the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation or the New Ireland Forum. It is vital we have some sort of place where we can think about this in a certain way. Will the Taoiseach proceed with that idea outside the North-South Ministerial Council or any of the confines of the Good Friday Agreement?

Will the Taoiseach also make certain in the negotiations that there is recognition of the Anglo-Irish Agreement and the possibility of the reunification of Ireland in any future agreement between the EU and the UK? In other words, we cannot have an agreement that might preclude the possibility of a reunification of Ireland. That would obviously have real consequences for whatever deal would have to go through.

Will the Taoiseach consider establishing an advisory council similar to what First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, MSA, established in Scotland, which is bringing in international, academic and other national experts outside the public service system, and which would advise our Government in the approach it needs to take? First Minister Sturgeon set that up within days of the Brexit vote. Such is the scale and the implications of this issue, it is vital for us to set up a similar advisory council. We have a meeting tomorrow and we might be able to consider the details of it, but I would be interested to know the Taoiseach's views in the House as to whether such an advisory council might be set up.

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