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

I thank all parties in this House for their cautious welcome for the draft text of the withdrawal treaty that was supported last night by the British Cabinet and that we suspect will be supported also by the European Council. This has been a long and at times a very difficult negotiation and I want to pay tribute to the Irish teams of negotiators, and diplomats in particular, who have done an extraordinary job in building and maintaining EU unity around many of the Irish vulnerabilities and questions. I also thank Michel Barnier for his extraordinary capacity to understand the detail of the multiple concerns and questions that have come from this island in the context of Brexit and its potential fallout, and for accommodating all the commitments that have been made to Ireland and to the EU by the British Prime Minister and her government during the negotiations to date in the legal text that was delivered last night. There were many commitments made in a political statement last December. Those commitments were added to in March and many people were sceptical about whether they could be translated into a legal text that could be sold on both sides of the Irish Sea in a way that protected this island, the relations on it, North and South, in a way that did not in any way undermine the constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland, but provided pragmatic solutions that ensured we did not face the prospect of physical Border infrastructure or related checks or controls between the two jurisdictions on this island. That is what this agreement does. It involves compromise and flexibility on both sides. It has involved a response from the EU side to the British Prime Minister's demands that Northern Ireland could not be separated from the rest of the United Kingdom in the context of a customs territory and that issue has been resolved.

We have a deal and a text that follows through on the commitments that have been made and does so in a way that protects Ireland's core interests now and into the future in a way that we can all stand over, I hope. Of course there are challenges to selling any package in the United Kingdom and in Westminster. Many people would say there is no majority for any way forward in the House of Commons. The British Prime Minister said last night that she faces difficult days ahead and I am sure she does but she is resilient, she has shown a remarkable capacity to get things done in very difficult circumstances and certainly we want to work with her and support her in the future relationship negotiations that need to happen to ensure that the backstop that is now catered for in this agreement never gets used. I hope we will have the opportunity to do that.

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