Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I want to ask the Taoiseach about the backstop agreement. Has he seen a legal draft of it? Has Mr. Barnier proposed such a legal paper or draft which has been shown to the Taoiseach or to Irish officials, or other representatives? Does he believe he still has bullet-proof proposals on the backstop? What is his desired deadline for agreement on Brexit? Is it the December Council meeting or later than that again?

Does the Taoiseach agree that the Good Friday Agreement changed the constitutional status of Northern Ireland? Will he expand on how that has affected his discussions with both Mr. Barnier and Mr. Tusk? Does he agree it is almost inevitable that if Brexit proceeds along the lines we understand it to be proceeding, there will be a constitutional crisis in the UK, specifically regarding Scotland, which voted against it but has no power in terms of the negotiation, while in the North we have no functioning Executive to represent, in a legitimate way, the views of the different parties, communities and traditions in Northern Ireland? It looks like we are drifting inevitably - I said this a long time ago - to the last few hours of the last night of negotiations. I encourage the Taoiseach to be forthcoming to the Dáil, on what is a most important decision for everybody on the island of Ireland, for the EU and for the UK, as to where he thinks it stands now. I ask him to cut out the spin and tell us where he believes it is at.

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