Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have a written reply to that, which the Deputy will get, but I will answer directly. It is to be hoped we are coming towards the end of the first phase of negotiations but that is not necessarily the case unless the sufficient progress test can be passed. The three issues are citizens' rights, the financial settlement and Irish issues. Within the Irish issues are three core issues. The first is what is called the common travel area and we have made good progress on that, allowing Irish citizens to move, live, study, access social welfare, carry pension entitlements and vote in Britain, and likewise in respect of British citizens here. The second two issues are complicated. The first is a commitment to fully implement the Good Friday Agreement in all of its facets. We have a mapping exercise between the British negotiating team and some Irish negotiators working with the task force to map out the complexity of that. There are 142 different areas of North-South co-operation that we are trying to figure out how to deal with in full in the context of Brexit. It is not easy. The third issue is the Border. The papers that were leaked last week are negotiating and working papers for the task force and they sum up where we are.

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