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

The pace of developments on Brexit has increased. The Taoiseach said that the UK has to be either in the Single Market fully or outside it. We require further elaboration and clarification in the context of the Chequers statement, which, as I said yesterday, represents a significant change in direction insofar as there is now coherence emanating from the British Government, and a clear move towards a softer Brexit. The type of Brexit now being mooted is still unclear. The exact end state sought by the Government has been entirely unclear over the past year beyond saying it wishes Britain to stay in everything. Britain has said that it is not in favour of a Norway-style agreement but rather is seeking something more than just a free trade agreement. Has the Taoiseach a position on that? Yesterday he made comments about compromises on red line issues. Can he be more specific about what he meant by that? He seems to suggest that on one level the EU should be flexible on the red line issues but at the same time it is not compromising on them.

The Taoiseach will also have noted that Mr. Michel Barnier has called for the issue of east-west controls under a backstop to be de-dramatised. Many people see this as an admission that the impact of the backstop was over-briefed last December and that the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste went overboard promoting it as an historic moment. I note that the Tánaiste seems to have taken a more nuanced approach and used a different tack to the Taoiseach regarding the Chequers statement. Does the Taoiseach accept Michel Barnier's call to de-dramatise the issue of the backstop? What steps will he take to do that?

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