Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

On the negotiating strategy, the point I made last night in our Brexit debate was that we should be looking to push the Commission and the Council to enter talks on areas where there can be co-operation into the future. Prime Minister May is in the Financial Timestoday saying a trade deal will not come until after the Brexit talks are finished and that is probably right. There is a whole range of other standards we will have to get co-operation on in energy, digital services, environmental rules and so on. It does not make sense for our strategy to be, first, to talk for six months about whether the UK will pay its exit bill and on the divorce terms and then to start talking about certain areas of co-operation. The Taoiseach should be proactive when it comes to the Council meeting. His officials should set up a safe space in advance in which to discuss some of the standards that are set by the European Union. They should not go into the sensitive area of tariffs or the detailed trade arrangements. There are certain key standards we need agreement on in how energy markets work and in how digital services, privacy and other rules are set and agreed. It is in our interests, with the greatest risk at play, to get those standards and a safe space in which to talk about them straight away in the negotiations rather than waiting six months in what is already a very tight timetable. Would the Taoiseach agree to such a negotiating approach? Will he push it at the Council?

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