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

It is important to say, and I have said it before, that the Brexit negotiations are dynamic and things change week on week, so we have to make judgment calls week on week as to what is the right approach to take. It is my judgment, and the Tánaiste's, currently that stalling the talks would not be the right approach. What happens invariably when walking out of talks is that sooner or later there is a need to walk back in again. It is our view that what is required now is that we intensify the talks and that is what we expect to happen so that we can come to an agreement in October. As Deputies will know, the withdrawal agreement has to be ratified both by the UK Parliament and the European Parliament and we need those few months between the end of October and end of March to make sure that agreement is ratified. I am also confident that the European Parliament will not ratify an agreement that either undermines the integrity of the Single Market or for some reason would leave Ireland adrift.

When the recess comes, I intend to use that period to do some shuttle diplomacy. I have managed to meet bilaterally with many prime ministers, either here in Dublin or in their capital cities, and I intend to use the recess to meet some more, visit some more EU capitals and receive some more people here. We will also be involved in intensifying negotiations through the task force and we will have to continue to step up our contingency planning to prepare for the possibility, however remote, that there may be a no-deal Brexit.

On the eurozone budget issue which Deputy Micheál Martin raised, I am not sure which letter he is referring to but if there was-----

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