Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I was involved in negotiating the creation of an all-island electricity market with Ms Arlene Foster and Mr. Nigel Dodds. I mention this because of the lessons that were learned. We got the market over the line by saying nothing in public, by building trust and by doing the work behind the scenes. Does the Taoiseach regret that we were not slightly quieter and that we did not say less on Monday? Did our commentary throughout the day aggravate the difficult circumstances that were playing out? What did the Taoiseach say to Ms Foster that day in Enniskillen or subsequently? Did he set out the broad approach that we were following with our European partners?

The second lesson from the energy market process was that we got it over the line because we were committed to working east-west as well as North-South. Similarly, there is some agreement in the Brexit talks. I listened to Mr. David Davis, the UK's Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, saying something yesterday that every Member of the House of Commons in Westminster said, namely, that the UK was seeking a regulatory alignment that would apply to all of it. Yesterday, the Taoiseach articulated that that was the first default position. Some sort of trade deal that would avoid a border with friction, be it east-west or North-South, would be delivered, although the Lord knows how.

The Taoiseach stated that, failing this, the second option would be a technological solution. We do not know what that would be, but we would be willing for the UK Government to propose ideas. That is a concession, given that there are no specifics.

As I understand it, the key element of the text related to something that the Government was seeking and on which we received agreement, namely, if those two options failed, there would be a backstop guarantee to the effect that, in the absence of agreed solutions, the UK would ensure full alignment with the rules of the Single Market and customs union and protect the provisions of the Good Friday Agreement.

This morning in London, the British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Mr. Boris Johnson, stated that the Border issue could "only be discovered in the context" of the second phase of the negotiations and that we should grate on through. On Question Time, the Prime Minister of Britain is making a cast iron commitment that it will leave the customs union and Single Market.

Is the Taoiseach's backline issue that, at the Council meeting on Thursday of next week, he will apply a veto to the talks progressing to the second phase if that backstop guarantee, which is not necessarily our desired solution or, as the Taoiseach stated yesterday, a nationalist grab, but is rather about trying to protect both communities on either side of the Border, is not given? Is that the key element that would stop the Taoiseach from allowing the talks going to phase two? Will the Taoiseach apply a veto or, if not, what is the way out of the impasse that has opened up before us?

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