Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We will not resile from our responsibilities. We are well aware of the fact that we are a co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement. That is the very point I have been making for quite some time. For all of the leaders I have met at European level, the first point of contact for their interest in this country is the protection of the peace process and all that it brings with it. Our priorities are citizens, the economy, job retention, the Border area, not returning to a hard border, the common travel area, the peace process and all that goes with it.

The Deputy will be aware that I have made it perfectly clear that we should have an all-island conversation. It will take place next Wednesday, although it will be disrupted a little owing to the recall of the Dáil. Be that as it may, it is important that we hear all voices on the entire island of Ireland, including of those in the South who export to the North and vice versa, on issues such as cross-Border activities and activities east and west between Ireland and the United Kingdom which, as the Deputy will be aware, represent a figure of over €1 billion in trade every week.

The civic forum will meet on Wednesday and I understand approximately 300 invitations have been issued. I will publish the list of all those who have been invited to attend. It will be the first in a series of meetings to be held. There will also be meetings to discuss individual sectors, be it the agriculture sector, the hospitality sector, the financial sector and so on. All sectors must be conversed with and heard in order that we will know exactly what we are talking about. The Deputy will be aware that I have instructed every Minister to engage directly with his or her counterpart in Northern Ireland before the North-South Ministerial Council meets on 18 November. I hope that, following the comments made by the First and the Deputy First Ministers on Downing Street which I noted with great care, the focus will be on reaching an agreed position in the Northern Ireland Executive on the priorities for Northern Ireland. That will be difficult, politically, but that is what politics is about. The DUP has a particular view on the vote and every other party has a different one. It is the bringing of these two positions together in the interests of the people of Northern Ireland that concerns me. In so far as that is concerned, I hope the first meeting of the civic forum next Wednesday which, as I said, will be the first in a series of meetings will bring about cohesion and a real focus on people's concerns, anxieties and fears arising from the many comments made on the nature of what Britain will look for, be it a hard Brexit, a soft Brexit, removal from the Single Market, the customs union and so on, all of which will bring their own challenges. We cannot, however, decide on what we need to negotiate on until we know what Britain is looking for. The British Prime Minister has clarified that she will trigger Article 50 before the end of March, but long before then we will have to have a detailed analysis of the contingencies that might have to be played out.

I will publish the list of those who have been invited to attend the civic forum. I expect Deputy Gerry Adams to attend on Wednesday, too.

See this speech in context