Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As we know, we are just six weeks away from the June meeting of the European Council and we are none the wiser on the British approach to the Irish issue in terms of Brexit. We learned from an article that the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, penned in the British edition of The Sunday Timesat the weekend that she does not have a plan. Indeed, that article could have been penned in any week over the past two years because it seems nothing has changed in her regard. Wish lists are not a negotiating position. We have heard from Michel Barnier that there has been little progress on this issue since the last update in March. This is hugely concerning. While the British Tories may play games with this issue and may have internal politics at play, this is people's lives and people's rights. It is defending the Good Friday Agreement. We need clarity and solutions. In the middle of all this, we have the DUP with its playground rhetoric and Sammy Wilson adding to it with his bizarre comments at the weekend. This shows again that it continues to put the interests of all the people of the North at risk, not only nationalists but unionists. I am concerned about, and I seek some clarity on, the succour that has been given on the customs partnership scenario, which has already been dismissed by the European negotiators.

I also want to raise the Common Agricultural Policy and the multi-annual framework that is in draft form at this time. The proposal is to cut the CAP by 5%, or €3 billion, annually, which would have a devastating impact on Irish farmers and agriculture. At the same time as the cut to the CAP we see an increase of approximately of €20 billion in the area of defence. As a cut to the CAP is taking place, which supports 130,000 farmers in Ireland and supports 100,000 people working across the agrifood sector in Ireland, what Europe is proposing is an increase in defence spending. Have the Taoiseach or the Minister, Deputy Creed, raised this issue with their European counterparts? What is the position of the Irish Government on proposals that would see farmers and the CAP budget sacrificed at the table of increased spending on defence?

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