Dara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We will follow through. As I say, the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, has made it clear and tells me he is satisfied with the response from Ms Federica Mogherini and from the committee of the Parliament.

I will answer some other questions before I get to my remarks. With respect to trade and the importance of the UK market vis-à-vismarkets globally, I want to give some statistics about Irish goods exports. The Republic of Ireland exports 11% of its goods to the United Kingdom, but we export 40% of our goods to the rest of the European Union. We export 49% of our goods to the rest of the world, with which we trade on the basis of our membership of the European Union. Essentially, there is an 89% trading relationship on the basis of our European relationship as against 11% with the United Kingdom. Our United Kingdom relationship is clearly important but significantly less, at approximately 11% of the total. With respect to services, our dependence on the UK market is greater. Nineteen per cent of our services exports go into the United Kingdom, but 35% go the rest of the European Union and a further 46% go to the rest of the world.

Again, there is an 81% dependence on the rest of the world, so it is vital to be clear that while the trade negotiations with respect to our relationship with the United Kingdom will be critically important to this island, our relationship with the European Union and the rest of the world is of significantly greater importance to us.

A question was asked about Schengen and ongoing developments. We will provide a briefing on that.

The issue of Irish neutrality is not up for debate. Obviously, through the Lisbon treaty our long-known position on neutrality is robust.

Deputy Howlin asked about the project office for unaccompanied minors from Calais. This has been established within the last month in Tusla and the assessment process for Calais has commenced. The Deputy also referred to a working group within the Council. I will clarify this because his definition of it was not quite right. There will be a working group of officials from all member states. It will be the officials who are based in Brussels and they will report to our ambassador through COREPER. It will be chaired by an official and the Commission will also report to it regularly. The most important point to emphasise is that the oversight and the mandate for negotiations will come from the European Council.

I will address the issue of Ukraine and the Netherlands. The agreement was finalised in 2014 but was not ratified by member states. Members will be aware that a referendum took place in the Netherlands which rejected the agreement, so a protocol was sought by the Dutch Government. The European Council reached a decision at the December Council meeting that will be binding on all 28 member states. It addresses the concerns of the Dutch Government and we understand that the Dutch Government will now proceed to ratify the agreement.

Russia was again discussed at the European Council. The French and Germans provided an update on the Minsk peace agreements relating to Ukraine. Given the lack of progress in implementing the Minsk accords, it was rightly agreed that sanctions on Russia should be renewed for a further six months.

Regarding economic and social development and youth, the Prime Ministers noted the decision by the Ministers for Finance to extend the European Fund for Strategic Investments, EFSI. The Council also noted the modernisation of trade defence instruments and discussed energy union, the Youth Guarantee, the youth employment initiative, the European Solidarity Corps and, of significant importance from an Irish point of view, the digital Single Market in the context of the Single Market. The European Council welcomed the agreement of Finance Ministers to strengthen and extend the European Fund for Strategic Investments, with an ambition to have this agreed with the European Parliament this year. It is fair to say that the impact of the EFSI in Ireland remains modest, but we support further development of what is a key block of the European investment plan. We welcome that the new office for the European Investment Bank has been opened in Dublin. This should provide further complementary support for project development in this country. The role of an enhanced EFSI in mobilising a stronger pipeline for SME business, in particular, is crucial. I should mention in the context of the digital Single Market that Ireland has identified issues with data localisation and the bottlenecks to the development of trade.

Finally, the European Council met with the President of the European Central Bank, Mr. Draghi, and had a good exchange on the European economy. Mr. Draghi pointed out that while there is an improved economic situation there is a requirement to continue reform.

I apologise for not having time to say more. I am available to answer any other comments and questions by e-mail if Members feel I did not adequately reply to them.

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