Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It has been acknowledged in this House, and more widely, in recent weeks that we are at a critical phase of the Brexit negotiations. Ireland’s view, and that of our European Union partners, is that significant further progress needs to be made on the outstanding withdrawal issues, notably the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland, before the June European Council.

This is a message that I have conveyed on several occasions to UK counterparts in recent weeks and it was reiterated at the highest level by the Taoiseach when he met with Prime Minister May last week. However, before addressing the current state of play in the negotiations in more detail, I would like to take a wider view of where we stand.

One year ago this week, on 22 May 2017, the EU adopted its detailed negotiating directives providing a mandate for Michel Barnier and his task force to commence negotiations with the UK.

Ireland warmly welcomed the directives. The robust reflection of Ireland’s unique concerns and priorities in the EU’s negotiating position spoke to the intensive programme of engagement undertaken by the Government to secure the understanding and support of our EU partners. This solidarity was, I recall, captured very succinctly by Michel Barnier in his address to this Chamber earlier that same month, when he said: "Ireland’s interests will be the European Union's interests". At that time, negotiations between the EU and the UK had not yet formally begun. There was strident opposition on the part of the UK to the EU’s proposed sequencing of the negotiations.

There were also very significant differences in principle between the EU and UK positions on critical issues such as citizens’ rights and the financial settlement. No such differences in principle existed between the EU and UK sides with regard to the shared objective of protecting the gains of the peace process and safeguarding in full the Good Friday Agreement. It was equally clear, however, that there was a very long road to travel in order to elaborate flexible and imaginative solutions with the aim of avoiding a hard border, while of course respecting the integrity of the Union legal order.

We have come a very long way since then. Over the past 12 months, under the able stewardship of Michel Barnier and his team, the negotiations have developed in a manner that has vindicated the EU’s strategic approach. The phased approach, dealing with withdrawal issues first, has been instrumental in delivering the outcomes we now see reflected in the draft withdrawal agreement.

It is very welcome that agreement has already been reached in principle at the level of negotiators on the key issues of the financial settlement and citizens’ rights. Also of particular importance to Ireland is the agreement reached in principle on a transition period. This status quo transition up to 31 December 2020 will be of critical importance in providing some certainty and clarity for businesses and citizens in terms of what the situation will be the day after the UK formally leaves the EU on 29 March 2019. This was a priority which both I and the Government raised at a very early stage of the negotiations. I believe it was the former Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, who was first to advocate for it.

Of central importance to this country is the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is an integral part of the withdrawal agreement and addresses issues unique to the island of Ireland.

I welcome that agreement has already been reached that Ireland and the UK can continue to make arrangements to ensure the maintenance of the common travel area, which allows, and will continue to allow, free movement of Irish and UK citizens between Ireland and the UK. It goes way beyond simply free movement but is a virtual recognition of citizenship in each other's countries.

As I have informed this House in recent weeks, negotiations to close the remaining gaps in the draft withdrawal agreement are ongoing, including detailed discussions between the EU and the UK on issues relating to Ireland and Northern Ireland. These negotiations continue this week.

The UK has accepted that a legally operative version of the backstop for the Border will be included in the withdrawal agreement, in line with paragraph 49 of the joint progress report agreed last December, and that all the issues identified in the draft protocol reflect the issues that must be addressed. These were important steps forward. Real and substantive progress is now needed in terms of building on the progress already made on agreeing the protocol ahead of the June European Council.

Over the past six months, the situation with regard to the future framework for relations has also been developing, albeit slowly. In the guidelines adopted by the European Council last March, the EU set out in more detail its overarching approach and priorities for the future EU-UK relationship. It reaffirms the Union’s determination to have as close as possible a partnership with the United Kingdom in the future, a position Ireland has consistently advocated for given our very important economic relationship with the UK. While the UK’s current "red lines" may prohibit that future relationship being as close as we would like, the guidelines, importantly, state that the EU will revisit its position should the UK’s approach evolve over time.

This openness to adapt on the EU’s part is particularly important and welcome in the context of the ongoing debate in the UK at present with regard to customs.

A customs arrangement between the EU and UK would be a step in the right direction in the context of achieving our mutual objective of the closest possible relationship in the future and workable proposals from the UK will be given due consideration by the EU.

I also welcome that, as things stand at present, the EU’s position takes account of a number of significant Irish concerns, which my officials and I have consistently underscored in our contacts with the EU task force and our EU partners generally. They set out an ambition for a balanced, ambitious and wide-ranging free trade arrangement with the aim of covering all sectors and seeking to maintain zero tariffs and zero quotas. Ireland has a greater interest than any other EU member state in such an outcome. Important sectors for Ireland are also prioritised, including agriculture, fisheries and aviation.

Against this backdrop, the current phase of negotiations is about maintaining the necessary momentum to carry all of this over the line by the end of October.

Because the EU has been clear that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, and following my discussions with Michel Barnier and with my EU counterparts at the General Affairs Council last week, I can assure the House that the EU remains resolute on this.

Michel Barnier has explained in very clear terms that a development of the UK position on customs, while useful within the context of the wider EU-UK relationship, would not in any way remove the need for a backstop on avoiding a hard border. As we speak now, the backstop as reflected in the draft protocol, which centres on a shared regularly space, is the only solution on the table.

To be clear on one point, such a solution does not in any way threaten the constitutional status of Northern Ireland as enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement through the principle of consent. It is simply a logical and legal outworking of what was agreed in December and reaffirmed by Prime Minister May in March. These are practical solutions for solving a very challenging and political problem, namely, how to avoid a hard border in order to protect the Good Friday Agreement and the gains of the peace process.

Of course, it is not just about the Border. This is also about protecting other central and equally important elements of the Good Friday Agreement, most notably North-South co-operation and the rights of individuals and their rights as EU citizens. There was a clear consensus among the EU 27 in Brussels last week that at this stage of the process, the UK must engage in a more detailed and realistic way on the draft text of the protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland with a view to delivering on the clear commitments it made in December and again in March. As I said earlier, this is a message that the Taoiseach and I have conveyed clearly to the UK side in recent weeks.

In the interim, intensive work continues here at home on preparing people, businesses and the economy for Brexit. The exact implications of Brexit depend on the outcome of negotiations on the future relationship between the EU and UK but we need to prepare for all scenarios. This is why the Government is engaged in comprehensive contingency planning, which is at an advanced stage. I would point in particular to over 30 research papers produced across Government and also the support measures put in place by the Government in budget 2018, as well as the longer-term economic strategies aimed at getting Ireland Brexit ready.

I welcome these statements, which come at a critical time in the negotiations and as the Government continues its intensive work on Brexit planning. Support in this House for our work is vital and, therefore, I remain committed to keeping Members fully informed as this detailed and complex process develops over the coming months. I hope and think that the Brexit spokespersons from Opposition parties know that I am available to talk to them on and off the record with regard to making sure everybody is kept fully briefed, particularly between now and the end of June as we move through a very sensitive but very important phase of the negotiations.

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