Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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5. To ask the Taoiseach if he will reaffirm comments attributed in the media to him regarding the potential for a united Ireland following the negotiations on the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union; and the specific plans he has in place for such a measure. [38617/16]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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6. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the meeting of the Cabinet committee on Brexit that was held on 24 November 2016. [38637/16]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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7. To ask the Taoiseach to set out how his Department will work with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Brexit; and the process for dealing with the overlap of functions on relations with EU member states between the two Departments. [39818/16]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 5 to 7, inclusive, together.

The Government wants to ensure all aspects of the Good Friday Agreement are provided for in any new arrangement between the EU and the UK. This includes the principle of consent and the possibility of a change in constitutional status in Northern Ireland. The Good Friday Agreement and its successor agreements contain a very clear measure to the effect that people North and South of the Border may under certain conditions have the opportunity of voting by referendum on a united Ireland. As Taoiseach, I have made it clear that the Government is mindful of the need to ensure the future option of a Border poll, as part of the totality of the Good Friday Agreement, is upheld.

The Cabinet Committee on Brexit has met on a number of occasions, most recently on 24 November last, to continue the overall co-ordination of this country's preparations for the negotiations on Brexit which will take place as soon as the British Government submits its Article 50 notification.  The committee is also considering the potential impact of Brexit for Ireland, as well as any economic opportunities that may arise.  Separately, a special Government meeting was held on 16 November last to consider Brexit issues and, in particular, to prepare for an important plenary meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council in Armagh on 18 November.

The Government has considered Brexit issues regularly since the UK referendum, including on foot of ten separate memorandums for Government. I am ensuring a whole-of-Government response to Brexit is being developed, including through the Brexit Cabinet committee I established following the referendum result. I chair the Cabinet committee, which involves all Ministers as required. The issues involved concern all Ministers, Departments and agencies and require a consistent and comprehensive whole-of-Government response. As I have told Deputies previously, I have restructured my Department to ensure Brexit is treated as a crucial cross-cutting issue, including by creating a newly amalgamated international, EU and Northern Ireland division under a new second Secretary General. The work of this division includes supporting the Cabinet committees on Brexit and on European affairs.

Work on Brexit is supported by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and his Department, both of which now have a greater role in EU matters overall. The newly created EU division in the Department and the existing division in the Department dealing with Anglo-Irish affairs both have important roles to play. Relevant Departments, agencies and overseas missions across the Government are being strengthened to deal with Brexit. There is ongoing interaction on EU issues on a daily basis between the Departments of the Taoiseach and Foreign Affairs and Trade. Under the restructuring I announced in July, a second Secretary General has been appointed to lead a new integrated division in the Department of the Taoiseach with responsibility for supporting me on EU, Northern Ireland, British-Irish and international affairs, including through the Cabinet committees on European affairs and on Brexit.

A second Secretary General has been appointed to lead a new EU division in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. This Department, working closely with my Department, has lead responsibility for the general co-ordination of EU affairs. The two second Secretaries General and their respective teams engage closely on an ongoing basis to ensure a comprehensive whole-of-Government approach to EU affairs is provided. In addition to the regular engagement between the Departments of the Taoiseach and Foreign Affairs and Trade, there is ongoing interaction across all Departments on the range of EU issues, including through regular meetings of the senior officials group on the EU and the interdepartmental group on Brexit. As Members will be aware, the European Council is meeting in Brussels this week.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The section of the Taoiseach's comprehensive response in which he referred to Northern Ireland was quite orthodox. I am intrigued by a quote that was attributed to the Taoiseach in an article in The Irish Timesheadlined "Kenny says Brexit could bring about united Ireland" on 25 November last. The article began:

Britain's exit from the EU could result in an "uncomplicated route" to a united , Taoiseach Enda Kenny told a private fund-raising event. again raised the prospect of a united Ireland as a possible outcome of Brexit at an event for one of his backbenchers.

Would the Taoiseach care to share with us what exactly he said at that meeting? It might be better for him to clarify the matter rather than having this quote out there. What was the thinking behind the Taoiseach's statement?

I am still a little confused about the exact working of the new EU division within the Department of the Taoiseach. It is now a merged EU-Northern Ireland division. Under the previous Administration, many staff from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, headed by an assistant secretary, were transferred on secondment to the Department of the Taoiseach. The Taoiseach has now told us that there is a new EU division in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade itself. Are two units of officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade - one in the Department of the Taoiseach and the other in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade - dealing with EU affairs? How is the "co-ordination" mentioned by the Taoiseach happening? There is an assistant secretary in each division. How do they relate to each other? How do they relate to the Taoiseach and to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, who has the front or lead position in relation to foreign policy under the Constitution?

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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The Taoiseach will be aware that throughout her campaign to become Tory party leader and since she was appointed as Prime Minister, Theresa May has repeated that "Brexit means Brexit". Not content with that, she coined a new phrase last week when she referred to a "red, white and blue Brexit". That is her new mantra. The British Government has made it clear where it stands. It is standing up for what it perceives to be Britain's national rights. The people of this island, North and South, are not a priority for it. That is entirely understandable from its perspective. The people of this island have to be a priority for the Taoiseach, however.

As I have said previously, the vision of the Taoiseach and the leaders of Fianna Fáil and the Labour Party is limited, restricted and blinkered by the parameters of this State. We need to be thinking about the entire island all the time. The Taoiseach's reply to the questions before the House referred to the need for consent if there is to be a united Ireland. I accept that proposition. I am working with others in Sinn Féin to get that consent. We recently published a discussion document on Irish unity. I sent a copy of it to the Taoiseach. I am not sure if he has had a chance to read it but I would commend it to him. I sent copies of it to all Deputies.

The Government does not have a strategy for Irish unity. It is only mentioning it now in the context of Brexit. Over the entire existence of this State, no Government has had a strategy for Irish unity. Sinn Féin is prepared and willing to work with the Government and all the parties in here to develop such a strategy. I commend that position to the Taoiseach. Short of ending partition and achieving Irish unity, the main objectives of any Government should be to end poverty and to bring inequality to an end. Ending partition and ending poverty are linked in many ways. We have consistently urged that there should be an all-island vision when it comes to negotiations. We have argued that the result of the Brexit referendum in Northern Ireland has to be respected as part of the principle of consent, about which the Taoiseach spoke earlier. We have argued that a special designated status should be created to allow the whole island to remain within the EU.

Again, we published a document on the case for the North to achieve designated special status within the Union, which seeks to address many of the issues that we have touched on and which the British House of Lords EU committee deals with to some extent in the report it published yesterday. The Taoiseach is arguing that such a status is implicit in the different propositions that have been put forward, but Northern Ireland will be outside the Union. There is a qualitative difference between what we are arguing for, not least because it is based on the democratic decision of the people in that part of the island. They have not given their consent to be moved out of the EU. Will the Taoiseach continue to focus on this? Is he prepared, in terms of the united Ireland proposition, to work with our party and the leaders of Fianna Fáil, the Labour Party, the Independent groupings and the other smaller parties to bring forward such a proposition?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The great victory for democratic republicanism on this island was the winning of the right to call a unification referendum if such a vote might conceivably be won.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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The Deputy refused to put it to the British Government.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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No one has yet demonstrated that calling such a referendum would be anything more than a gesture at this time and we have no objective of exploiting the Brexit issue to pursue a divisive agenda.

The more urgent issue is protecting the full right to joint Irish and British citizenship for residents of Northern Ireland. We need the Taoiseach's assurance that he will not put up with any attempt to weaken this right on the part of the UK Government or the EU and I ask him to give this assurance. In essence, we will be faced with a situation where the largest number of EU residents living outside its boundary will be in Northern Ireland post-Brexit. It is a unique situation and those EU citizens demand special status and a unique approach and resolution in the aftermath of Britain leaving the Union and in terms of the future arrangements and relationship between the UK and the EU. As the forum the Taoiseach established recently illustrated, there is capacity to bring people together on the island on economic, industrial, farming, trade union and community issues, devoid of a political context saying they will used to browbeat people into a united Ireland. The approach in the context of Brexit should be to continue to work on the stakeholders and to get the right deal for the people of this island in respect of the impact of Brexit because it will be bad for Britain and the Republic but it will be worse than the previous two for Northern Ireland. That is what the economic analysis so far is telling us. We need to knuckle down on the practical implications of Brexit and come up with resolutions.

Has the Department examined the recent London supreme court case? In that case and the Belfast high court case, the UK Government has taken a disturbing approach to its right to change international agreements. I do not know whether the Taoiseach is aware of this but the UK Government rejected as irrelevant parts of the Good Friday Agreement which gives EU law a role in Northern Ireland institutions. It said that the Northern Ireland Assembly has fewer rights of consultation than the assemblies in Wales and Scotland. It also insisted that it may act unilaterally to withdraw from agreements. Has the Taoiseach considered this matter? What is his position on the position the UK Government took in the Agnew case, in particular? Has he conveyed to the UK Government the fact that we must agree before any changes are made to the content and implementation of previous agreements?

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Taoiseach will have to condense his reply into one and a half minutes.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I am happy to clarify Deputy Howlin's question, which I have answered previously. Second or third-hand reports generated into headlines are not what I was talking about. The Good Friday Agreement clearly contains within it the opportunity in the future, if so desired by the people, North and South, to vote in a referendum on the question of Irish unity. In other words, if there was a strong feeling and a strong motivation among people in Northern Ireland arising from a Border poll or whatever and the majority view was to join the Republic and form a united Ireland, that is provided for in the Good Friday Agreement and successor agreements. Brexit negotiations and discussions, whenever Article 50 is triggered, will have to include that wording and that principle in order that at some future time, were that to become a reality, the conditions applicable under the Agreement would apply. As Brexit will then have been implemented and Northern Ireland will be outside the EU, there should not be a long process if the people there wish to join the Republic in a united Ireland as a member of the Union in the same way that applied when East Germany was assimilated into West Germany. I was not suggesting what the headline said. I was making clear that in the discussions and negotiations that will arise, the principle, wording and understanding in the Good Friday Agreement, an internationally legally binding agreement, would be clearly put into the negotiated wording. I will do that from the EU's side of the table. This is an internationally binding agreement, as Deputy Martin will be well aware.

Deputy Adams asked about the question of Brexit meaning Brexit and standing up for people's rights. I have identified our priorities on many occasions: jobs, citizens, economy, relationship with Northern Ireland, the peace process, relations with the UK, the common travel area and our future relationship with the EU. When I met Prime Minister May, a number of things became clear. First, she said she would trigger Article 50 before the end of March. Second, there will be no return to a hard Border. Third, there will be diminution of the benefits of common travel area between the two countries which has applied since 1922. Both governments agree with that. Implementing that will be an outcome that we look forward to arising from the discussions and the negotiations that will take place. That is where our priorities are and will continue to be.

The Deputy referred to qualitative differences and special status and so on.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Taoiseach should observe the clock.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Gabh mo leithscéal. I would like to know, and I would be happy to hear, what the British proposition is as to the kind of relationship it wishes to have in future with the Union once Article 50 is triggered. There are court cases with decisions to be made. We can then decide on the options and how that relationship should be structured. We need to focus also on the future of the EU with 27 member states minus Britain and where Europe wishes to be in five, ten or 20 years and the decisions it must make to get there.

I am happy to give the assurance Deputy Martin mentioned in respect of citizens in Northern Ireland.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I extended the time because of the importance of the questions.