Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My question was about when the Government expects to publish the planned document that outlines the Government approach to mitigating the impact of Brexit. I also asked the Taoiseach to give us a sense of the current status of this document. He may have done that and I may have missed it, but I would like him to clarify it.

If I recall properly, the last - and probably the only - comprehensive document on the Brexit negotiations was a most unsatisfactory production. We were all called to a meeting. We did not have copies of the document. We waited for approximately half an hour for the Taoiseach to join us. Then, given that we did not have a chance to read the document, the meeting was suspended.

The big issue is that the Brexit negotiations started yesterday. However, the Border issue, which was going to be one of the significant priority issues, has now been put into part of the dialogue under the authority of the co-ordinator rather than part of a working group. Can the Taoiseach tell us whether this issue is now being relegated to a status of lesser importance? Can he tell us what role the Government will have in this process? Given his statement that the North should stay in the customs union and the Single Market and that any customs checks should be on ports and airports rather than on land borders, can the Taoiseach tell us how he hopes this will be made manifest? Did the Taoiseach raise these issues with the UK Prime Minister, Mrs. May, in his telephone conversation last Thursday or in his meeting in London?

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