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

I will be as brief as I can. It was a real pleasure to meet and talk with First Minister Sturgeon. We had spoken on the phone previously but it is the first time we met. She is a very impressive person. She is somebody who is very direct and business-like. I was very impressed by her. We are aligned on many issues and I look forward to working closely with the Scottish Government in the months and years ahead if we are given the opportunity.

Deputy Ryan asked a very valid question about the role and value of the British-Irish Council. I will attend my first meeting of it in a few weeks' time so I want to reserve judgment until I have come back from it to see what its value is. At the very least, it is an opportunity for the Taoiseach of the day, the First Ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - if the Executive was up and running - and the Administrations in the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands to meet each other. We all have busy diaries and schedules. The fact we are required to meet each other at least once a year is probably no harm. Even that has some value, although the British Prime Minister does not attend or has only attended on one occasion. I will see how it goes and perhaps when we come back after that I will be able to give the Deputy a better view on its value as a body. We may find that post-Brexit it becomes more valuable or we may need to give it a new role, particularly as Brexit will affect Ireland and the UK differently and will also impact on the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man which are not in the EU but are bound by EU law in some way.

How powers are allocated between Westminster and the devolved Administrations is a matter for the Westminster parliament.

It would not be advantageous to our national interests to try to tell the United Kingdom how it should allocate power between Westminster and the devolved parliaments. We have a particular role, obviously, regarding Northern Ireland, but that does not apply to Scotland and Wales.

It is not true to say that the devolved Administrations have no influence on Brexit; they do. They have influence through the Joint Ministerial Committee.

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