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

Monsieur Barnier made it very clear when he was here that while there would be flexibility on the issue of the movement of people on this island and indeed between Ireland and the rest of the UK, there would be no movement or even talks in the first stage of talks about the issue of trade in services and goods between ourselves, Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

Does the Taoiseach agree that there are no negotiations in the first phase about how we deal with trade of goods and services? Given that the British Prime Minister again last night went back to the "no deal is better than a bad deal" scenario, will the Taoiseach or his successor insist that this issue - that the UK Secretary of State, Mr. David Davis says is going to be the row of the summer - should be raised at the June council on 22 June so that we can have our Irish interests represented immediately rather than waiting for events to unfold? Will the Taoiseach put trade issues with regard to the Border on the June council agenda, or would he recommend his successor do so, to ensure that they are not ignored?

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