Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

When we last discussed this issue in June, I flagged, as did others, the need for appropriate briefing material to be circulated to all of us in advance of the Council and afterwards. I do not think this has happened. I said in June it would be worthwhile and constructive to be informed before the meeting of the agenda, and particularly of the positions and attitudes to be put forward by Ireland, along with a note afterwards on the outcomes. That is what we understood the process was to be. It says a lot about how seriously this assembly is considered that the time for these statements was only added to the Order Paper yesterday. It was an afterthought. This cannot continue to be the way. In future, and I am particularly thinking of the next Council meeting in December, which we all know will be critical for the Brexit talks, party and group leaders should be given the courtesy of detailed briefings in advance by the Taoiseach's Department. Doing so would allow us a much more detailed and informed discussion here rather than set piece contributions, to which, bluntly, one often wonders whether anybody is listening at all. That would be a much more useful use of all our time.

The additional agenda includes a number of serious topics, including migration, digital Europe, defence and external relations. I will focus on these, but the topic all of Europe will be focused on is Brexit. The Taoiseach said this is actually not the case and that the Baltic states would be looking to Russia and the Mediterranean states more to migration, but from our perspective Brexit is our focus. The sad reality is that without significant movement on a financial settlement by the UK, and on the other two key issues, the talks are not set to advance. Prime Minister May knows she will have to pledge more than the €20 billion proposed to make progress, but by doing so she also knows she will be denounced at home, so she is in a catch-22 situation. The Florence speech was important, but it has detracted from the three central issues to be addressed in phase 1. It will be to the December Council meeting we will look to open the next phase, and meanwhile the three extra rounds of Brexit divorce talks can take place.

The EU 27 meeting will make clear that not enough progress is being made to move past those three issues, namely, the rights of EU and UK citizens, Ireland and the peace process and the bill the UK should morally meet. It is my firm belief that if Irish concerns are not dealt with upfront it would be too easy for them to be forgotten about later. This seems to be the tactic in which the British Government is now engaged, to state it will deal with the Irish issue at the end. That puts us in very great danger.

There was a late effort by Prime Minister May on Monday to allow discussions on trade to advance. I understand the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister had a 40 minute phone call in which the Taoiseach's views and the British views on how these things could move forward were outlined. The Taoiseach might outline to us what specifically he said to the Prime Minister on her quite overt lobbying on this matter. This move has been resisted by the EU 27, but it is concerning that much of the public reasoning has been a lack of progress on the bill to be paid by the United Kingdom. In other words, if that matter was addressed, Germany and France could be satisfied that they might be able to advance to the next round of talks. This would put Ireland in a very difficult position.

There has been some progress in how the common travel area might be continued but, as we know, anything short of keeping the United Kingdom in the Single Market and within either the existing customs union or something analogous to it, will result in a real border on this island. As we have seen in recent weeks, the danger of a hard Brexit is ever present and is not receding, due to the toxic politics that are now so clearly evident in the British Tory Party. I think the British Labour Party could play a much more proactive role in this. I have done my best to talk to as many senior officials and senior elected members of the British Labour Party as I can. We need all parties in the House to do the same. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have links to conservative and liberal democratic parties throughout Europe. Those links need to be fully exploited.

Going back to the three key conditions for Brexit talks to advance, there was an interesting Bloomberg report yesterday, which suggested the Irish Government is considering pushing for guarantees that no border will be reimposed on our island as the price for allowing Brexit talks to advance. Will the Taoiseach advise us on whether this is now the official Irish position and if he has enunciated that position to the British Prime Minister in their telephone conversation? Is he planning to seek a concrete commitment on the Border? It has also been reported that the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Coveney, is delighted at the very strong language on Ireland in the draft conclusions of the Council. What is the Irish position now? Have we demanded a roadmap from the British on preventing a return to any border on the island of Ireland? I have no doubt the British Prime Minister will make her case to the Council, but it is imperative that we here in Dáil Éireann are informed of what the Irish Government is, in very clear and concrete terms, seeking and what the Taoiseach will say at the Council in our name.

As I raised yesterday with the Taoiseach, today the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission are due to agree the interinstitutional proclamation on the European pillar of social rights. Yesterday, the Taoiseach mentioned that he will travel to the event in Gothenburg to participate in this formal signing. Since he will attend the publication of the proclamation, and given that I asked him about it yesterday, I hope he has had some time to find out exactly about the matters I raised yesterday. I am concerned at some of what I have heard from participants in the process about Ireland's role. From European contacts, I am told Ireland appears to be on the side of those seeking to restrict social rights, aligning ourselves with countries such as Hungary, hardly noted, as I said yesterday, as champions of social rights. In particular, I believe we are demanding changes to the preamble. We have apparently led the charge in seeking to add text that would water down any obligation on states to give real meaning to the social pillar. I believe the Minister of State is due to speak later and she might address this issue.

As Deputies know, the social pillar is built around three principles, namely, equal opportunities and access to the labour market, fair working conditions and social protection and inclusion. The purpose of the proclamation is to have a clear agreement between the Parliament, the Commission and all of the member states on how we will deliver on the 20 areas outlined in the social pillar.

From what I have heard, Ireland's efforts have been focused on watering down our obligations, and those of other member states, to move towards the delivery of these rights. I ask the Minister of State, Deputy Helen McEntee, to be very clear, when making her contribution, on the language we try to include in the preamble and on our position.

After the last Council meeting, I highlighted the need for a debate in this Chamber on the decisions on defence co-operation. In September, the French President gave a speech on the future of Europe. At the heart of it was the issue of security co-operation and defence, including the creation of a European rapid response force. In effect, he is calling for an EU army and a shared defence budget. Once one creates a military intervention force, one is on the path of a very different EU from the one we signed up to. Again, we need to know specifically what Ireland's response to this has been to date and what it will be in the future.

On migration, the Council will call for progress on the reform of the common European asylum system. I ask the Taoiseach or Minister of State to outline Ireland's position on this in concrete terms. Are we committed again to taking another tranche of refugees? What are our future plans for the coming years?

I ask the Taoiseach to outline his input on the leaders' agenda. We probably need to have a specific, long debate in this House on our shared view on the evolution of the EU, including on its future direction and structure after Brexit.

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