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

The Taoiseach said he was more optimistic that we could move on to phase 2 in December than he was before the October meeting, when, clearly, there was no chance of that happening. Since the Taoiseach's statements, the leaked paper from the task force points to a number of things that Britain does not seem to be accommodating, so we have a problem. The Taoiseach recognises this also and that is why he has been asked about whether Ireland would use its veto and so on. This misses the point to some degree. The European Union is at one in respect of this matter. We have fantastic solidarity across the European Union on Irish issues. The head of the task force understands those issues in real detail and in my view there will be no need for a veto. I am of the opinion that the European Union will act as one and that member states will take their signal from the task force as to what is and is not acceptable in the context of sufficient progress.

There are two serious issues that are currently outstanding, namely, those relating to the financial settlement and the Irish Border. The British Government knows this and there is a big onus on it to come forward with some new thinking regarding the Border in the next few weeks. Any government must plan for a worst-case scenario and we will do that. I am aware that Deputy Donnelly has raised this issue a number of times. We are negotiating for a best-case scenario because that is what we need to do.

To be clear, the Government's position is consistent with that of the task force. Specifically, in order for North-South co-operation to function in the future, consistent with the Good Friday Agreement, we need to ensure there is no regulatory divergence on one part of the island versus the other. That is a real danger in the context of Brexit. This is why our position of Britain being part of the same customs union, whether that is a redesigned customs union or an extended Single Market, would solve a lot of these problems. In the absence of Britain, as a whole, doing this, we need some assurance on the island of Ireland that Northern Ireland will be the subject of unique and flexible solutions.

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