Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday the Government issued its latest Brexit briefing, which is startling since it seems to be already out of date. The bulletin points to the schedule of meetings in Ireland agreed to for the negotiations. What it does not state is that the schedule is already well behind. The most crucial meetings intended at co-ordinator level were delayed and are no longer due to be separated from other negotiations. I do not know whether the Taoiseach discussed that matter with the Chancellor. The bulletin also talks about the key issues being decided in June, but yesterday the Tánaiste admitted that there had been no substantive progress and said everything might fall apart. I know that conflicts with the Taoiseach's position and that he does not see a problem with everything being delayed until October. However, the Tánaiste has a different view. Will the Taoiseach tell me why the co-ordinators' meeting was delayed and if he was consulted about the move away from the agreed schedule of meetings? Will he explain if he agreed that the meetings would no longer be focused solely on Ireland but could be linked with a meeting on the overall final status negotiations? I am sure he will accept that this flies in the face of an earlier claim that negotiations on the backstop had been decoupled from negotiations on the final status of UK-EU relations.

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