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

I absolutely agree with Deputy Martin that there is no need for secrecy around impact analyses. I have no difficulty with them being published. There may be good reasons they should be published but I do not believe those reasons involve secrecy. I accept the basic point that the Deputy makes, that it helps to inform the debate, not just here but also in the United Kingdom. There has to be a degree of secrecy around the negotiations, and any reasonable person here will understand that. Whether we are talking about the negotiations currently under way in Northern Ireland or those under way in Brussels, we cannot play them out here and show our hand to the people we are negotiating with. People will understand why that is unwise. The opportunity for confidential briefings on Brexit for party leaders is available from my Department, and I trust party leaders to treat those briefings in full confidence.

Many impact analyses have been published. I see one in the newspapers every other week, often from a Government body or a body associated with the Government, or indeed a non-governmental body. There is no shortage of impact analyses outlining the potential horrors of a Brexit that goes wrong. I am not sure we need any more of them, but I have no difficulty with them being published.

It is 18 months since the referendum on Brexit in the UK and it is worth reflecting on some of the things that have been done and have been achieved to date. It is very significant that the Government has managed to secure Irish issues as being among the top three issues in phase 1 of the talks, that those issues are part of the sufficient progress test and that there is an understanding that Ireland is unique when it comes to Brexit. We have secured a commitment from the UK and the EU that we will attempt to avoid a hard border and that there will be no physical infrastructure. We have a commitment from the UK and the European Union to protect the common travel area and the provisions of the Good Friday Agreement. We have widespread support for a transition phase now. I was asked how long that might be. Let us not forget that this was not even a part of the early discussions. Ours was the Government that first proposed that there might be and should be a transition phase; it was contained in the former Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny's, Mansion House speech. We have also managed to dispel any suggestions that we too might leave the European Union.

4 o’clock

In the first few weeks after the Brexit referendum we were seriously asked by many people if Ireland would leave too. We managed to dispel any notion that we would ever consider it.

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