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

As I stated earlier to Deputies Howlin and Burton, I cannot predict the future and I do not know what will happen in the next couple of weeks or months. It is my sense that we are moving in the right direction and I am more optimistic than I was in the weeks before the October summit. However, that may change. I have been asked to give clarity but I cannot as it is not clear. It should be evident to anybody following this Brexit debate that there is a lack of clarity. I cannot give clarity I do not have nor can I give certainty when I am not certain myself. This is a dynamic and changing position, with political developments across Europe and in London as well.

A leaders' meeting would be a good idea at an appropriate time, but we probably need a little more clarity, and certainty before that would be valuable. I point out that it is not intended that everything in phase one must be agreed before we move to phase two but rather that sufficient progress must be made on the phase one matters of the financial settlement, citizens' rights and issues specific to Ireland. That would allow us to move to phase two, where we can speak of transition arrangements and the new relationship. It will not be possible to resolve the Border question fully until we start to speak about the future relationship that the UK will have with the European Union. There will come a point when it will be in our interest to start talking about that.

Civic engagement on Europe will be led by the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee.

2 o’clock

It will be launched in the next two to three weeks. I am not sure of the exact format yet - Deputy McEntee is very much taking the lead on it - but I imagine that it will involve a number of public forums, sectoral forums and engagement with young people and universities. It is based very much around the leaders' agenda, the reforms set out in Bratislava and in the speeches of President Junker and President Tusk.

Talking about special status is not helpful. It is not in our national interest to talk about special status, or to be demanding it. Sinn Féin MEPs, allied with one of the far left nationalist groups in the European Parliament, irresponsibly and unhelpfully put down a motion calling for special status for Northern Ireland. That was rejected by a massive vote in the European Parliament, precisely because the use of the term "special status" is anathema to many European countries because regions within European countries do not have special status within the European Union. The fact that was done was contrary to our national interests, and I regret that Sinn Féin did that.

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