Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

With the United Kingdom leaving the European Union, the Franco-German axis is becoming more central in determining the future of the European Union, the dynamics of which will change. It is welcome that the Taoiseach travelled to Berlin last month to meet the Chancellor. German support for the Irish position of avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland will be very important coming up to the June summit and perhaps the October summit too. I hope it is firmly in place. I know from my experience that Germans are very interested in the peace process and want to see it maintained. I hope the Taoiseach impressed on the Chancellor the important role small nation states have to play in the evolution of the European Union. He has stated we are willing to pay more into the EU budget post-2020, which is reasonable. His meeting took place against the background of a Commission proposal for a digital tax and the ongoing push for a consolidated corporate tax base and the harmonisation of corporation tax generally. There are also discussions on the reform of the eurozone and its governance. I know that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, has allied Ireland with northern EU states in that regard. Did the Taoiseach impress on the Chancellor the tax rules and rates for individual member states and that there was to be no weakening of tax sovereignty as far as individual nation states were concerned? If he did, what was the Chancellor's reaction?

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