Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 5 to 10, inclusive, together.

I spoke by phone to the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, on 5 November, when we discussed the current state of the Brexit negotiations.

We both emphasised our commitment to avoiding a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland and the need to make sure that we had a legally operable backstop.

The Prime Minister raised the possibility of a review mechanism for the backstop. I indicated an openness to consider proposals for a review, provided it was clear that the outcome of any such review could not involve a unilateral decision either by the UK or the EU to end the backstop.

I recalled the prior commitments made that the backstop must apply "unless and until" alternative arrangements were in place to supercede it. We both expressed the hope that the negotiations could conclude in a satisfactory manner as soon as possible.

I welcome the endorsement by the European Council of the agreement on the withdrawal of the UK from the European Union, and approval of the Political Declaration setting out the framework for the future relationship.

Both sets of negotiators have worked long and hard to achieve this decisive progress, with compromises on all sides. Ireland’s key objectives for this stage in the negotiations have been fully achieved.

I can confirm that the backstop arrangements in the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland provide a guarantee that there will be no hard border on the island of Ireland. We hope that the backstop will never be used and we will work closely and continuously with our EU partners during the negotiations on the future relationship treaties that will establish the alternative arrangements.

I can also confirm that the protocol includes provisions allowing for a review of the backstop. The legal text states that the backstop will stay in place unless and until alternative arrangements can be agreed and can only be ended by the mutual agreement of both sides.

The EU and the UK have committed in the finalised withdrawal agreement to protect the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts. For the avoidance of any doubt, the protocol confirms that nothing in the agreement would prejudice the constitutional status of Northern Ireland as part of the United Kingdom and that the principle of consent as set out in the Good Friday Agreement is now part of a draft treaty between the UK and the EU, therefore strengthening and copper-fastening that principle of consent.

While the backstop, if invoked, envisages some different regulatory rules applying in Northern Ireland, this does not represent a threat to the constitutional status of Northern Ireland in my view. In many ways, what the Prime Minister said yesterday mirrors other policy areas where Northern Ireland has different rules from other parts of the United Kingdom.

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