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

Brexit is a complicated negotiation, but our objectives are very simple. Our first and overriding objective is to ensure that we continue to have free movement of people and free trade, not just North and South, but also between Britain and Ireland. The best way for that to be achieved would be for the United Kingdom to stay in the Single Market and the customs union. It has indicated that it is not willing to do that, so the best alternative in that context is that we try to negotiate a deep and comprehensive free trade agreement that also covers customs. The Deputy will see from the British papers that, while they do not talk about a customs union, they do talk about a customs union partnership. Perhaps there might not be such a big difference between a customs union and a customs union partnership. That is the option A that was laid out in the December joint report.

Yes, we have been asked by the British authorities to work with them at official levels on how that might be achieved, but of course all negotiations will have to be done through the Barnier task force. We have made that abundantly clear. That is the objective - to make sure that people can continue to travel freely between Britain and Ireland and North and South, and that our businesses, particularly those that may be most exposed - those in aviation, the agrifood sector and farmers - do not face tariffs, non-tariff barriers and new barriers to trade, not just North and South, but between Britain and Ireland.

However, what we have in the joint report of December is a guarantee - a commitment - that a hard border will be avoided. The backstop in that arrangement, or the last resort as the Prime Minister prefers to call it, is a special arrangement for Northern Ireland whereby Northern Ireland will retain and maintain full regulatory alignment with the European Union. Our objective now is to make sure that is written into the withdrawal agreement. We achieved what we wanted to achieve in phase 1. Now what we need to do in phase 2 is make sure that that is written into the withdrawal agreement, a legally binding agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union that is now under negotiation.

Never mind December, I will just give the Deputy what was agreed two weeks ago in black and white as part of our European Union guidelines - the Barnier guidelines - for negotiation:

The European Council ... made clear that negotiations in the second phase could only progress as long as all commitments undertaken during the first phase were respected in full and translated faithfully in legal terms as quickly as possible. During the second phase of the negotiations, an overall understanding on the framework for the future relationship of the Union with the United Kingdom should also be reached. For that purpose, the European Council decided that it would adopt additional guidelines on this framework in March 2018 and called for further clarity on the United Kingdom's position on the framework for the future relationship....

During the second phase of the negotiations, in view of the unique circumstances and specific nature of issues related to the island of Ireland, the work on detailed arrangements required to give effect to the principles and commitments set out in the Joint Report should continue in a distinct strand.

This is the document that we have agreed among the EU 27 as to how we are now proceeding in a distinct strand to deal with those Irish-specific issues while also very clearly insisting and demanding that the commitments and guarantees that were given to us in December are now reflected in full in the legal withdrawal agreement. That is where we are at the moment.

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