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

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 7, inclusive, together.

Ongoing political engagement with our EU and international partners is crucial, especially as negotiations on Brexit proceed. I will continue to use every opportunity to ensure that other member states and EU institutions fully understand our particular concerns arising from Brexit in order to enable the best possible outcome for this country. Other Ministers, in particular the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Simon Coveney, who has special responsibility for Brexit, are also meeting their EU counterparts on a regular basis.

I attended my first meeting of the European Council in June. I took the opportunity to arrange bilateral meetings there with the President Tusk, President Juncker, who was joined by Michel Barnier, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Estonian Prime Minister Jüri Ratas. I also spoke informally in the margins of the European Council with a number of other European counterparts.

Last week I attended the digital summit in Tallinn, where I also had a bilateral meeting with the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and invited him to visit Dublin before the end of the year. I spoke informally in Tallinn with a number of other EU Heads of State and Government, including French President Emmanuel Macron, with whom I will have a full bilateral meeting in Paris later this month. I also congratulated Angela Merkel on her re-election to her fourth term as Chancellor, and said I looked forward to continuing to work closely with her to solve the issues that shape the future of our shared union. I have also had a number of other important bilateral meetings since taking office as Taoiseach, including with Prime Minister May, most recently in London last week, the President of the ECB, Mario Draghi, and the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau.

I met Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament's lead Brexit co-ordinator, in Dublin on 21 September, having met him in June when I was a Minister. We discussed all acts aspects of the Brexit negotiations, with a particular focus on Irish-specific issues, namely, the Good Friday Agreement, the peace process, the Border and the common travel area. Mr. Verhofstadt was on a two-day visit to the island of Ireland and met community and business groups and political parties in Northern Ireland. I thanked him for his personal engagement on the issues and his very supportive statements towards Ireland. We also exchanged views about the future direction of Europe and I updated on our plans for public engagement on this important matter.

Preparing for and dealing with Brexit in a way that delivers the best possible outcome for the country remains a top priority for the Government. The particular issues affecting the island of Ireland are being given priority and considerable attention by our EU partners and the EU task force led by Mr. Barnier. They fully share our concerns and approach, and are working to ensure progress is made on Irish issues in the negotiations with the UK.

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