Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for that. I will stick to the international response now. If the Minister wants to come back on what his priorities are domestically, we can go into that.

A few things. Deputy O'Brien and myself were in Westminster last week. We met various Government Ministers and cross-party MPs. We put the December agreement to all of them. We said our understanding, the Government understanding, briefed directly from the Taoiseach, is that it is full alignment North-South. It means, essentially, that nothing can be done in the Northern Ireland economy that would lead to future border controls. I asked three separate Under Secretaries if that was also their agreement. They would not agree to that: they hedged. Does the Minister accept that the British Government has a different view as to just how solid and categoric the December agreement is? Will the Minister expand on Norway-plus? We all understand what the Norway model is within the European Free Trade Association, EFTA. When the Taoiseach and the Minister talk about Norway-plus,will the Minister explain what the plusis?

I thank the Chair for his patience. On the Common Fisheries Policy, which the Minister knows well from his previous role as Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the British Ministers reiterated, when we were in London last week, that the UK will be taking back control of its territorial waters. It will be leaving the Common Fisheries Policy. This is an existential threat to our fishing industry. What is the Irish Government doing, specifically in respect of the Common Fisheries Policy? Is the Government looking to renegotiate the basic formula to give Ireland a fair share if indeed the UK does look to take back its territorial waters?

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