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

We as the EU 27 are united on this. Ireland's position is the position of 27 members states. We negotiate as 27 from a position of strength. Our position, which is in the guidelines, is that we will review progress at the meeting in Brussels in June. We want to see real and meaningful progress by June if we are going to meet that December deadline, or rather the October deadline. There is a real risk that we will not meet the October deadline if we do not see real and meaningful progress in June. It is still early May. It is only the first week in May. There are many moving parts. There are shifting sands. An important UK cabinet meeting is under way today and parliamentary votes of significance are happening across the water now. We need to treat this as an evolving situation, and it is one. We are very far from making a decision point as to what the maximum amount of progress is that can be achieved in June. Obviously, we will make that decision at the time.

Let there be no doubt that we are insisting that there has to be a backstop in the withdrawal agreement. The UK now acknowledges that there has to be a backstop in the withdrawal agreement. People call it different things. It is officially called the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland. I believe I started using the term "backstop", which the EU has adopted as the term. Prime Minister May calls it the last resort. The Secretary of State, David Davis, calls it a reserve parachute. What we all agree, no matter what one calls it, is that the withdrawal agreement must have that. It must be in the withdrawal agreement and, if it is not, then there cannot be a withdrawal agreement.

It is worth acknowledging some of the progress that has been made in these negotiations, step by step, during the past year or two. There was the joint report in December in which the UK commits to ensuring that there is no hard Border, including physical infrastructure and associated checks. There was the commitment to retain the common travel area, which is very important for reasons that everyone in this House will know. There was the Kenny text, which allows Northern Ireland, should it decide to do so, to join the European Union through Irish unity, if that is something that the majority of people in Northern want to happen in the future. We also have the transition period, which is really important, giving business, public services and individuals until the end of 2020 to prepare for any permanent changes that may take place. I know there has been some suggestions from some parties in this House that we should have rejected those terms, that we should not have agreed to those terms of the transition agreement. I strongly refute that suggestion. Irish business, farmers and workers need that transition period to prepare for the future, to protect their businesses, farming and jobs.

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