Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Nobody is suggesting that a free trade agreement will be signed, sealed and delivered by October. It will take years to do that. The Brexit talks were, nonetheless, structured in phases 1 and 2. The whole purpose of that was to make sure we got closure on some important issues. The so-called withdrawal bill, reciprocity of people's rights and the Irish Border were the three which received the most attention. It was during phase 1 that we had considerable support from the other 26 EU member states.

Respectfully, it is not me who is merging the withdrawal framework with the detail of a free trade agreement.

11 o’clock

I would suggest that the Minister, the Government and the EU have allowed the merging of phase 1 and phase 2. Surely we should have been looking for closure on the Border before moving on to phase 2 and surely that is what the talks were structured to do. The Minister has answered the first question, which is October. Why did the Minister not make a call? Did he consider making a call for the Council meeting that has just gone to say that this really is the beginning of the future relationship talks and that we must get closure and agreement on something that was agreed in principle in December?

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