Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach knows better than I do that Croatia is the EU's most recent member state. The Taoiseach said he discussed the British position and that of the Government about the consequences of Brexit.

4 o’clock

Did the Taoiseach ask the Croatian President if she would support special status for the North?

The Taoiseach said that all of the Government's priorities are contained in its position paper. The shambolic meeting last week on this issue is evidence of the Government's failure and refusal to afford the Opposition the opportunity to make submissions which would influence Government policy. There is little new in this position paper and it fails to provide detail. It is aspirational and much of it is simply repackaging of action plans and so on. It proposes what it calls adaptive sectoral Brexit response plans but there is no detail given and no indication when these will be published. What is needed now is action, concrete proposals, support for our exporters to help them to diversify, investment in our third-level education system and proper funding for organisations such as InterTradeIreland and Tourism Ireland.

Is the Taoiseach aware that the European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt, writing in the Financial Times, has indicated support for the North securing special status as a method of stopping a hard Border? He does so even without the Taoiseach lobbying for that.

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