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

Those things are self-fulfilling prophecies. If Deputy Stephen Donnelly, as Minister of Foreign Affairs or European Affairs, was to go to London to negotiate with the British authorities the details of how an electronic border might work, he might find soon enough that it would actually become a solution. That is why it would be very unwise to have a Fianna Fáil Government in London discussing with British officials what an electronic border might look like, how big the toll gantries might be and where they should be placed. That would be a very unwise political strategy and it is something I absolutely would not support.

Briefings are absolutely open to party leaders.

I have given no instruction other than to give people full information.

Climate action is an important issue. I totally acknowledge that but there are any number of issues on which one could have a dedicated Cabinet sub-committee. We could have one for every single issue for which there is a Department, and then some more, but then we would be back to where we were before, with 15, 20 or 30 Cabinet committees. It is just too many and it becomes unwieldy. Justice reform is dealt with by Cabinet committee B but the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Charlie Flanagan, and I also meet bilaterally. I disagree with the view, often expressed to me on Taoiseach's questions, that if an issue is important, one must have a dedicated Cabinet sub-committee do deal with it. I am not sure that is true. I have seen Governments from ten or 20 years ago, and maybe more recently, for which setting up a committee was a way not to deal with something. It was just a consultation exercise or talk-shop exercise. The way one tends to get things done in government is either at Cabinet, where Ministers are all present so one can actually make decisions, or in much smaller groups.

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