Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Over the course of discussions today and tomorrow, the European Council is expected to give formal endorsement to the move from the first to the second phase of negotiations on the United Kingdom's departure from the Union. Although we hardly need it, we had another reminder last night of how divisive this issue is in the UK with an embarrassing parliamentary defeat for its Government. One consequence of this vote is that the timeframe for agreeing a deal is potentially compressed even further, even though it was already tight.

Fianna Fáil broadly welcomes last week's deal as it pertains to the island of Ireland. However, given the vastly different interpretations being put on that deal, we must accept that the most difficult Brexit negotiations are still ahead of us. The putting into effect of the commitments secured last week as part of a final, legally binding written agreement will be a major challenge. The clock is ticking and with the UK set to leave the EU in just over 15 months time, the imperative in the coming months will be to achieve as much certainty as possible for Irish businesses trading with the UK. It is generally accepted that there is less than a year to agree a transition agreement and the framework of a future relationship.

In her speech in Florence last August, the British Prime Minister, Mrs. Theresa May, called for a transition period of two years. Given the level of complexity involved across different sectors and the amount of detail that must be worked out as part of that process, two years is nowhere near adequate or realistic. If one takes the aviation sector, for example, where forward planning has to be done many years in advance, it is clear that the business community must be afforded a long lead-in period to whatever the new trade arrangements will be. Will the Tánaiste confirm what length of transition period the Government will seek as part of the phase 2 negotiations? Will he give an assurance that throughout the transition phase, however long it is, the UK will remain part of the Single Market and the customs union and that the terms of trade, on both a North-South basis and an east-west basis, will remain unchanged and unimpeded?

On the question of what can be achieved in phase 2, the President of the European Council, Mr. Donald Tusk, has said that while an agreement on a future relationship can only be finalised and concluded once the UK has become a third country, the EU will be ready to engage in preliminary and preparatory discussions with the aim of identifying an overall understanding of the framework for that relationship. People will want to know what this means in practice. Is it the Tánaiste's understanding that there will be no talks at all on the details of a future trade deal until the UK leaves the Union in March 2019? It is undoubtedly the case that the EU stood by Ireland in phase 1. What reassurances has the Government received that the same solidarity will apply in phase 2 on the critical question of trade, given the enormous economic exposure of the State to changes in that area?

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