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

Last week direct questions were put to the Taoiseach about Brexit, but he avoided answering them beyond vague generalities. I want to ask him a very simple but important question which I asked last week. Has he proposed to the British Government or European Union partners that Northern Ireland receive special economic status following Brexit? He has said he will not propose any border arrangement and seems to have delayed work by the Revenue Commissioners on the matter. What exactly does he propose? One media statement by the Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, that the Border be moved to the Irish Sea was rejected by the North and does not appear to have been formally followed up. Once again, given that the Tory Government states it wants the United Kingdom to leave both the Single Market and the customs union, has the Taoiseach made specific proposals on the status of Northern Ireland?

Given that there was a summit last week, it is surprising that the Taoiseach did not make himself available in this House for statements either before or after the summit. While he did not make himself available here to talk about the summit, he managed to bring a party person with him to take videos of him on the Government jet and at a meeting at the Irish Embassy in Tallinn. These videos were first published on the Fine Gael website; clearly, therefore, they have no official status. Does the Taoiseach think this type of party politicisation of a Government event is acceptable? While his personal obsession with media management is clear, why did he decide to break from the practice of his predecessors and use formal European Union business for purely party political purposes? There is an important distinction to be made in the Taoiseach attending summit meetings on behalf of the people as head of Government, not as the leader of a mere political party.

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