Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

There are two points about which I want to ask the Taoiseach. The media carry extensive suggestions today that the maximum facilitation, "Max Fac", model is back on the table in terms of not being able to end the backstop early and that it is an olive branch the British Prime Minister, Mrs. May, is proposing to offer to Eurosceptics in the UK parliament. I merely want to ask the Taoiseach whether that particular element of the long discussions that have taken place in the last period has been discussed at the Council in the context of potential discussions to ward off a very hard Brexit.

I understand that at the Council meeting PESCO was discussed in the context of quite ambitious proposals for significant increases in military spending, not necessarily in the context of a European army as put forward by the Taoiseach's colleague, the French President, Mr. Macron, but more in the sense that all European armies would invest heavily in modern advanced weapons systems. I would like to know whether, in fact, the Taoiseach has signed Ireland up to a broadening and deepening of PESCO, in particular, given the potential budget to be spent on armaments by European countries.

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