Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not mind. I am in the Leas Ceann Comhairle's hands.

To answer Deputy Martin's questions regarding staffing and roles, I will have to follow up on the issue of staffing and roles in my own Department. I have not yet had the opportunity to tour the Department and meet all the staff. I hope to do that on Monday. I had planned to do that this Monday but then the opportunity to visit London came up and I thought that was more important. I hope to do that on Monday, to examine where there may be gaps and where we may need to have additional staff support.

The meeting I had with Prime Minister May was only our first meeting. We had a phone call previously and we will have another meeting, hopefully en marge,later in the week in Brussels. I did detect that there is a willingness of behalf of everyone to have transitions arrangements if they are needed.

As I mentioned, the term "implementation period" was used rather than "transitional arrangements", but I am not sure if there is a fundamental difference between the two. When it comes to Brexit, much of what is finally agreed to will come down to language. The situation is very much evolving, but I do not see how there could not be a transition period. I do not think we could have a sudden change in the rules; changes would have to be transitional.

See this speech in context