Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

No. It is my understanding in a previous scenario similar to this there was not an ability for an Irish official to attend. A similar circumstance arises now. However, officials are monitoring the situation and will continue to look at it closely.

The Deputy asked what we are saying about Turkey. We have been asking that pre-accession funding to Turkey be reassessed and that it be sent to civil society organisations but no decision has been taken on that.

With regard to taxation and the digital economy, the Taoiseach made it clear that it is very much our view that work is under way by the OECD, which is taking a global approach to this issue. Our position is clear - obviously France has a different position - which is that this issue should be examined solely through the EU. While a Commission report is due to come out in the new year, we have been clear that wording particularly focused on the OECD report and the global approach should be clearly stated in the Council remarks following last week's meeting.

With regard to democratic conventions and the future of Europe, we agree there should be a unified position on this and that we should work together moving forward. However, at the same time, there have been a number of different proposals around how this should work. Last week, there was a conclusion based on a proposal by the Council President, Mr. Donald Tusk, that the Council would take back membership of the future of Europe debate and that it would happen on a phased basis over two years with a number of position papers and the process developing over time. We very much feel that citizens have different issues and they need to be dealt with differently. On 15 November, we will officially launch the future of Europe civic dialogue in Ireland. We plan on holding a number of regional debates with citizens. We plan on engaging with our educational bodies through our universities, colleges, primary and secondary schools. We will have focused stakeholder engagements and we will be supported through agencies such as European Movement Ireland and the Institute of International and European Affairs, IIEA. There will be further work and progress on that specifically with Oireachtas Members.

A number of questions were asked about PESCO. The issue was raised with President Macron yesterday but not specifically in the context of his proposals. There are ongoing discussions about the specific wording and that will be finalised in the November meeting of the FAC before being brought forward to the European Council. We would like a scenario where all member states are involved but we are clear that there cannot be any impact on our neutrality and there cannot be anything that would contradict the treaties to which we have signed up. Anything that is proposed will have to come back to the Chamber.

I was asked whether the Catalonian issue was raised with the Spanish Prime Minister. My understanding is that the Taoiseach did not get to speak to him directly but he spoke to officials and representatives. We reiterated our support for the territorial integrity of Spain and our respect for the rule of law.

With regard to the agreement and the social pillar, it will be signed at the social summit. Obviously, this is not a legally binding document and the reason for the delay is that we wanted to be sure of what it was we were signing up to but that will go ahead.

On the question of whether sufficient progress was made on the Irish issues in the Brexit talks and specifically on the Border question, a commitment has been given by the UK Government that there will not be any physical infrastructure on the island of Ireland. We also know, however, that they are claiming they will leave the customs union and the Single Market and, therefore, we need a roadmap as to how that will work because our preferred route is that the UK would stay within the Single Market and the customs union to ensure that we do not need physical infrastructure on the island of Ireland.

Our focus will continue to be on tackling the root causes of migration and continuing our naval efforts to ensure those responsible for people smuggling are stopped. Our inclusion in Operation Sophia and our naval efforts overall have saved the lives of more than 40,000 people. When it comes to the trust fund on migration, the annual report on the fund's implementation last year showed progress in addressing root causes, which are destabilisation, forced displacement, and irregular migration by promoting equal opportunity, security and development. More recently, we have given a commitment to double our allocation to the emergency trust fund for Africa. Decisions on where this money will go have not been finalised and we are saying that we need to focus any response to the crisis where we use money of this kind on the long-term drivers and what will best address the root causes. Perhaps we could follow up on the Deputy's suggestion that this would be laid out in detail and made clear to and available for individuals.

With regard to the British beef market, we are talking about trade, which is extremely important. When we talk about our key objectives in terms of citizens' rights, the Good Friday Agreement, protecting the common travel area and lack of infrastructure, protecting our trade between Ireland and the UK is also a key priority. Any future arrangements and agreements will be dealt with in phase 2 and the agricultural sector will come under that.

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