Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will be very brief on my three points. To pick up the last point first, it is imperative to have some lively, real-time debate and a reporting mechanism on what is happening. I suggested this last time. It would be useful to have a dedicated electronic newsletter on a weekly basis prepared by the Government for circulation to all Members updating us on all ministerial and official discussions of the week, any papers or discussion documents which have been circulated, any policy developments and any advance or change in thinking among member states or within the United Kingdom and its component parts to which we should be alerted. We could then make a decision on a week-by-week basis as to whether we should have a debate on those matters depending on how substantive they are. Certainly, we should have a debate periodically on the content of that update. I propose that the Government prepares that on whatever suitable day to give us a weekly update. We could then follow what is happening in real time.

I have two other brief questions. On the North-South plenary and the overall economic picture North and South, I remember the discussions very well over the five years. However, there is a new urgency about Brexit. As such, is there any progress on a mechanism to have an agreed approach North and South on the Brexit debate? Clearly, the initiative of an all-Ireland forum has excluded by its own choice the DUP, which is an extremely important political voice in the North. It seems to me that it is imperative to have Ireland and the issues of Ireland to the forefront both within the formulation before it is actually published of the British negotiating stand and in the response from the 27, which will directly involve Ireland. If we do not have some input into the British negotiating stance before it is formally laid out in Brussels on the triggering of Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty, it will be too late to mend our hand. We need to have a mechanism North-South to have the interest of Ireland impact on the British negotiating position.

See this speech in context