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

Deputy McDonald asked me about President Macron's disposition towards an extension. I am always reluctant in this House to act as a spokesperson for a Head of Government or, as in this case, Head of State, of another country. I do not want to misquote or misrepresent him in any way but I think it is fair to say he is certainly open to it. I have no reason to believe, despite some suggestions in some newspapers, that France would even consider vetoing it. He certainly wants to know about conditionality, particularly the issue of the United Kingdom being involved in future decision-making. If it is leaving, should it be involved in shaping the new Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, in the multi-annual financial framework, MFF, or in electing the next President of the Commission? It is also fair to say that, as is the case in many European countries, people are increasingly concerned that Brexit is taking up so much of the EU agenda that it is causing other important work not to be done, and many countries are frustrated about that.

I am confident that an extension will be agreed tomorrow at the European Council but there will be different views and there will be a discussion on the length of it and the conditionality connected to it. The United Kingdom has only asked for an extension until 30 June. If we were to offer a longer extension, what would that offer be? Would it be that the UK must accept this longer extension or it must leave on Friday? We will have to think this one through. It is requesting an extension. It does not want a crash-out on Friday. If we are to offer a longer extension, it will have to be an offer that it is willing to accept because we do not want to cause a crash-out on Friday by only offering a long extension which it would then be forced to refuse. I will need a bit of flexibility from the House and Government in getting that right. In my discussion with Prime Minister May last night, she was very firm in saying that no matter how long the extension, the UK should be allowed to leave once it has ratified the withdrawal agreement and passed the necessary legislation.

Even if it was nine months, 12 months or 15 months, they would not have to stay in that long if they ratified the agreement and ratified the legislation it needs to do it could then leave earlier and that is a reasonable request from Prime Minister May.

The Irish Government obviously prefers an extension to no deal and we have no objection to a long extension, but we need to bear in mind that if the extension is very long, certain dates in the withdrawal agreement start to be passed. The withdrawal agreement has specific dates in it such as a date to agree on fisheries so once a certain point has been passed, the withdrawal agreement has to be amended and I would not like to see the withdrawal agreement opened up because one amendment can lead to another and that is something that we have to bear in mind when it comes to any extension.

On the participation of the United Kingdom in the European elections, it will be required to take part in the European elections if they have not left the European Union by 22 May. As I understand it, the European treaties say that it is the right of European citizens resident in the European Union to be represented in the European Parliament so we would have to amend the treaties in order to stop the elections happening in the UK and that is not feasible. If they are in the European Union beyond 22 May, it certainly seems that they will have to take part in those elections although there are others who express the view that were they to leave before 30 June they still would not have to participate because the European Parliament does not sit until 2 July. Either way, if they are staying they will have to participate in the European elections because EU citizens will still be EU citizens and therefore they have a right to have seats in the European Parliament. There is a concern, however, about the European Parliament not being constituted legally. If the United Kingdom were to stay a member of the European Union but not hold European elections, then there is a risk that the new European Parliament would not be legitimate and therefore would not be able to legislate and would not be able to agree to a new President of the European Commission and that would be a big problem for everyone, so that is a real concern.

I very much agree that the Good Friday Agreement institutions should be re-established. That is principally up to Sinn Féin and the DUP but the Government stands ready to assist in any way that it can as a co-guarantor of the agreement.

The ports are an issue I raised in the meeting with President Macron. I raised the possibility that we would need to enhance sea links between Ireland and France if there were delays in using the UK land bridge or if there were delays at Dover of course. For some products it might make more sense to go directly from Ireland to France and that would logically be new or enhanced sea links between Cork and Rosslare and Cherbourg, Le Havre and some other ports but we did not get into much detail on that. It will all really depend on demand. I am told that there is already excess capacity on the existing lines.

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