Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is because some of the replies have been very lengthy. This is part of the problem today I have noticed.

What the Taoiseach has said essentially is he does not have any proposal for reform of the European Union. He has not tabled any and he does not believe essentially there is any need for reform, other than to make the existing treaties work. The substantial majority of the Irish people would have welcomed the election of President Macron. One part of this is that he defeated the anti-European Union and nationalist agendas of the extreme left and the extreme right. He was unapologetically pro-European Union, which is a lesson to be learned, and it worked. His election is an opportunity for moving ahead with some reforms of the European Union, and Deputy Howlin mentioned some of this earlier. It may have to be done in parallel with the Brexit negotiations. Essentially Europe has to be made more relevant to the citizen, but that will require some reforms.

President Macron and Chancellor Merkel yesterday seemed to indicate the possibility of future treaty changes in the years ahead. This is very important for Ireland because, in our view, there is no realistic way to achieve special status for Northern Ireland and the Border region without some form of treaty change. In the Government document on Brexit, the point about our national interest in a strong European Union is repeated, but it is accompanied by no new ideas for strengthening the European Union, and that is required because the lesson from Brexit and other elections is a significant proportion of people are becoming disconnected from the European Union. Has the Taoiseach made any proposals, and I take it from his reply that he has not, concerning treaty changes? Has he conducted any analysis of what the current treaties allow and what they exclude in terms of a final Brexit deal? I have been pursuing this for some time. Will the Taoiseach explain why so far, nothing has been published on the constraints which may be imposed by limiting a deal to the current EU legal order and legislation? The deal has to be limited to the current EU legal order and legislation. What does this mean in constraint terms?

See this speech in context