Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

My colleague, Deputy Burton, has given a fair character assessment of the British Foreign Secretary. My concern is that the general views of the British Government, as presented in terms of the solutions for Ireland when Britain exits the European Union, are completely unformed. That is profoundly worrying. Deputy Martin is correct. The necessity of demanding focus has caused strains between the Irish and British Governments.

The Taoiseach was correct last weekend to be crystal clear on what is acceptable to Ireland. It is time now to require clarity from the British side. Generalisms will not suffice. I offer the Taoiseach the support of my party in pursuing that line of clarity. It is right for this country and it is right to demand that level of clarity. I have no doubt the Irish Government will come under pressure between now and the date of the next European Council meeting from people who are now all aligned with the Irish position in phase 1 but who will anxiously want to get into phase 2. I hope the Taoiseach will steadfastly maintain a position that it is impossible to move on to phase 2 without a definitive, clear, written understanding of how the Border issues on the island of Ireland are to be resolved.

I wish to ask the Taoiseach a second question. It is an odd amalgam of questions. On the British-Irish Council meeting, the Taoiseach indicated that he discussed the Paradise Papers. The Isle of Man and Jersey in particular facilitate tax avoidance. Will the Taoiseach expand on the nature of those discussions? Some of the British dependencies have very peculiar legal structures. The Isle of Man, for example, is not part of the United Kingdom. Are the islands subject to the OECD base erosion and profit shifting, BEPS, process? Will they automatically share tax information, as 102 countries intend to do by next year with the revenue authorities of other countries? If they do not, could we have a process that would require them to do that?

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