Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In the normal course of events, EU policy decisions are taken at EU level and member states get significant time to digest and implement them locally. Unfortunately, in these negotiations we have moved into classic brinkmanship mode, with all the hard decisions being left to the final hours. We have heard that negotiators are up until 3 a.m. and resume their meetings at dawn, negotiating in what has been called "the tunnel".

Everything is now urgent. There is little time left for information to be released, digested and analysed.

Like others, I want to make it clear that we need time to see specifically the structure, content and import of any withdrawal agreement and to make sure we are legally clear before we vote in this House on any of these matters. Will the Taoiseach make Government officials available to brief us, other Members of the House and parties across the House once the agreement is finalised, if it is finalised, and provide us with any legal interpretation upon which the Government is relying?

I agree with Deputy Martin's point that the east-west part of the equation is extremely important for us. I say that not only as leader of the Labour Party but as somebody who represents Wexford and Rosslare port. A UK-wide customs union would be a great advantage but it must be established on a permanent basis. I cannot see how that could be acceptable to the UK authorities. We will see what is on offer and what is acceptable to Britain when the time comes.

I wish to ask the Taoiseach about a review mechanism that was mentioned. I asked him about that last week and he gave me some answers on it. Perhaps more has been made of this than it merits but we need clarity on it and the Taoiseach might give us that clarity now. Has he discussed the review mechanism with Michel Barnier and what is his understanding of what is meant by that term?

We have had a report today covering the common travel area. I have had discussions with a number of people on this matter. Some legal advice I got is that we should not try to codify the common travel area because once we start legally framing it we are perhaps in some ways reducing the rights base of it. The common travel area is a very shallow term for a very broad range of rights enjoyed by Irish citizens in the UK and UK citizens here right down to access to health services, education, housing and even the right to vote. My fear is that if we had an acrimonious parting of Britain and if it was perceived by the British, or certainly by the Tory Government, that the Irish issue was at the heart of the reason for an acrimonious departure, then rights enjoyed that are not legally codified and agreed may well disappear. In private briefings there has been discussions on this but perhaps the Taoiseach would put on the Dáil record what exactly is the extent of negotiations on the rights of Irish citizens and British citizens here which, separate from our European Union rights, would endure in what we now know to be, or call, the common travel area.

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