Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I hope the Taoiseach will take on board a small number of proposals in advance of this week's European Council meeting. The first couple of proposals relate to Brexit. I was delighted that so many people wanted to attend my party's Brexit forum in Dublin last night. The number of people who wanted to attend was far in excess of the number of seats available in the room. This shows clearly that there is huge public interest in this topic. When we discussed Brexit during Question Time in this House on 9 November last, I asked the Taoiseach to provide a weekly update to Opposition parties on the Government's unfolding preparations.

The Taoiseach confirmed he was happy to do so on that day and, obviously, I was happy to wait a couple of weeks for people to figure out the best way of doing this. I do not think there could or should be a weekly debate about it, given not every week will see movement. Even an e-mail update to Members would suffice and would underscore the urgency we attach to this issue. It would be a small way of making sure that everyone is properly involved in Ireland’s preparations for what is probably the most momentous task we have ahead of us in the coming months and years. I would like the Taoiseach to reconfirm his commitment to this idea and, perhaps beginning in January, that we would start that weekly update.

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