Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 43 and 45 together.

The Government has noted the content of Prime Minister May’s speech last week and welcomed the fact that it provides greater clarity on the proposed approach of the British Government to the Brexit negotiation process.

Prime Minister May has made clear that she wishes to secure the closest possible future economic relationship for the UK with the EU, a goal that Ireland shares.

For Ireland, the priorities for the negotiation process that lies ahead are unchanged: our economic and trading arrangements; the Northern Ireland peace process, including Border issues; the common travel area; and the future of the European Union.

In her speech, Prime Minister May highlighted the specific and historic relationship between Britain and Ireland. In this context, she made clear that her priorities include maintaining the common travel area and avoiding a return to a hard Border with Northern Ireland, both of which are welcome.

The Government notes that the British approach is now firmly that of a country which will have left the EU but which seeks to negotiate a new, close relationship with the Union. The analysis across Government has covered all possible models for the future UK relationship with the EU.

When the negotiations start later in the spring, we, together with our EU partners, will face the UK across the negotiating table and will strive for a deal that everyone can accept but, more importantly, that protects Ireland’s fundamental interests. It will not be easy but we are prepared.

As part of our preparations for this process, I have carried out a round of contacts with all of my EU counterparts to make them aware of the need for specific arrangements which protect the key gains of the peace process on this island, a process to which the EU has already made a key and substantial contribution.

The Taoiseach has met with Chancellor Merkel, President Hollande, the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, and other EU Heads of Government to convey Ireland’s concerns. The Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and I also met with the Commission’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, here in Dublin last October.

The Government is encouraged at the extent to which our concerns are understood and appreciated by our partners and by the universal desire to assist in addressing them satisfactorily. Commissioner Barnier’s clear statement in December that Irish issues would be a negotiating priority was very positive.

The Government is talking to the UK and working closely with the Commission and Council secretariat to develop concrete solutions to the issues raised and to work out how these can be achieved in the negotiations.

The Government and the British Government have reaffirmed that the Good Friday Agreement is the indispensable foundation for all engagement on Northern Ireland.

While this provides much needed reassurance, we are under no illusions about the hard work needed to deliver it.

In advance of the commencement of negotiations, the Government's engagement is being intensified in 2017. Our embassy network across the European Union is being fully deployed in support of the process, which will be assisted by the allocation of additional resources to our permanent representation in Brussels and our embassies in London, Paris and Berlin. The first plenary session of the all-island civic dialogue was held on 2 November and the process is continuing. The next plenary session will take place on 17 February. Between these two plenary meetings, 14 sectoral events involving various Government Ministers and examining specific policy areas in greater detail will also have taken place. The work of the civic dialogue process has reaffirmed the priority issues identified by the Government.

I assure the House that the Government will continue to prepare comprehensively and proactively for all dimensions of the EU-UK negotiations in pursuit of our priority concerns. In this regard, we will continue to engage with all our EU partners to highlight the unique circumstances of Northern Ireland, and the consequences for North-South co-operation on the island as a whole, which must be factored into any new relationship between the UK and the EU.

See this speech in context