Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I invite the Taoiseach to reiterate that the backstop, the Irish protocol as per the withdrawal agreement, remains the bottom line for this State and for the Government. Can the Taoiseach confirm that he told Mrs. May at dinner that this is the case? Can he confirm that the backstop cannot be time limited in any respect and cannot contain unilateral exit clauses, which would render the backstop entirely meaningless? Can he confirm that he had that conversation again with Mrs. May, to make that clear? Can he shed some light on what she shared with him in terms of her game plan to move things forward? We are now advised that the British Attorney General has a wording which would involve, it is speculated, a time limit on the backstop. Did the Taoiseach have a conversation with Mrs. May about that? Has text been shared? Does the European Union have text? Has the Taoiseach seen it? Did Mrs. May make any reference to moves to change the political declaration rather than the withdrawal agreement itself? Can the Taoiseach shed any light on these matters?

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