Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The position on Brexit is that we are part of the European Union and we are one of the 27 in terms of the negotiations. We are not negotiating bilaterally. The European Union and the United Kingdom are currently beginning negotiations on the withdrawal agreement and the transition period. Our objective is to ensure that the commitments and guarantees given in December are fully reflected in the withdrawal agreement, which is legally binding. In addition, we support a transition period of up to two years. That will give Irish people and Irish businesses a chance to adapt to any permanent changes that might take place as a result of Brexit. I did not call for a Norway plus plus model. I might have been reported in that way, but that is not what I said. I said that the UK-EU relationship is likely to be something different from the existing relationships. Norway is a small country and is not comparable with the United Kingdom. Canada might be a large country but it is on a different continent. Any new relationship between the UK and the EU is likely to be a bespoke one. It might have some similarities with other arrangements, but will not be identical to any of them. The UK Government's sub-committee on Brexit is meeting today and tomorrow to decide what future relationship it wants the UK to have with the European Union. I look forward to any clarity the UK Government can give us on what relationship it would like to have in the future.

Davos is a very interesting gathering of political and business leaders. In addition, and I did not expect this, many of the people there were from the NGO sector and were activists. The first event I attended was a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation event at which the main speaker was Malala Yousafzai. I had a chance to speak to her. She is a major advocate for education for women and girls. Just last week the Government decided to double its commitment to the Global Partnership for Education, investing more in the education of girls and women around the world. We know this is a very effective anti-poverty and anti-radicalism measure. It was a pleasure to hear from her and to meet her. One of the main speakers at the lunch the next day was the executive director of Greenpeace. The One Foundation was represented there as well. I did not know that Greenpeace, the One Foundation and Nobel laureates formed part of the global elite, but if they do I am glad they were present and had an opportunity to engage with the business and political leaders who were also there.

Deputy Martin is correct that it probably is over-hyped. It is definitely not a luxurious gathering. However, it is very useful, if only because it allows one, over the course of two days, to have an enormous number of formal and informal bilateral meetings and meetings in groups with Heads of State and Government and with business leaders as well as interactions with the media. If one were to try to organise those in the normal course of one's diary it would take many months to do so. The fact that everybody is gathered in the same location and that it works on a strict 29-minute meeting format allows one to do a huge amount that would otherwise take a very long time. For that reason alone, it is useful to attend it.

An interesting point made during some of my engagements, in particular with NGOs, is the extent to which we are making enormous progress in meeting sustainable development goals and that the doom and gloom about the world is not borne out when one examines the facts and the progress we are making towards those goals. For example, the proportion of the world population who suffer from extreme poverty is rapidly falling. Some interesting information was produced on that issue. Measures being taken such as action against disease, whether HIV, vaccine programmes or the elimination of polio and smallpox, life expectancy and access to literacy and education are going in the right direction globally. It is a hard truth to hear for the hard left but it is interesting that groups such as international NGOs or the UN are pointing out the enormous progress being made in those areas and how much more we could do with additional effort. That gives much hope for the future, shows that the world is going in the right direction and that the naysayers do not speak for those who work on the front line tackling inequality, disease, poverty in the third world and helping those who are trying to get access to education.

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