Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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7. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his meeting with the President of Croatia on 4 April 2017. [18007/17]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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8. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his meeting with the President of the Republic of Croatia, Ms Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, on 4 April 2017. [18228/17]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 and 8 together.

I met with the President of the Republic of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, in Government Buildings on 4 April as part of her three-day state visit to Ireland. During our meeting, we discussed the bilateral relationship between our two countries, EU-UK negotiations following the triggering by the UK of Article 50, and the future of Europe, including EU enlargement. President Grabar-Kitarović also briefed me on regional issues in south-east Europe, touching on economic, political and social challenges.

The Croatian President requested our advice in planning for Croatia's EU Presidency in 2020. In light of our extensive experience of seven EU Presidencies, I was pleased to be able to offer our assistance and our officials will follow up in this regard.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Given that Ireland is a small country, did the Taoiseach discuss with the Croatian President the difficulties and discrimination small countries face within the EU? It is almost impossible for small countries to access the Juncker plan in respect of investment because, by and large, small countries do not have the very large and international private enterprises that can invest in the Juncker plan, which is almost entirely directed at the private sector. Croatia is a small country which has had its political ups and downs in recent years. The draining of confidence in the European ideal is because fiscal rules for the EU are now set by Germany. Notwithstanding the Taoiseach's very close alliance with Angela Merkel and the European People's Party, he seems unable to influence the gag that exists in terms of more investment spending. EU countries like Ireland, other smaller countries, and indeed large countries like France and Italy will not be able to prosper and modernise to the degree they need to unless a mechanism is found to provide for investment spending outside the very strict German deficit rules that now exist in the EU.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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The Taoiseach knows better than I do that Croatia is the EU's most recent member state. The Taoiseach said he discussed the British position and that of the Government about the consequences of Brexit.

4 o’clock

Did the Taoiseach ask the Croatian President if she would support special status for the North?

The Taoiseach said that all of the Government's priorities are contained in its position paper. The shambolic meeting last week on this issue is evidence of the Government's failure and refusal to afford the Opposition the opportunity to make submissions which would influence Government policy. There is little new in this position paper and it fails to provide detail. It is aspirational and much of it is simply repackaging of action plans and so on. It proposes what it calls adaptive sectoral Brexit response plans but there is no detail given and no indication when these will be published. What is needed now is action, concrete proposals, support for our exporters to help them to diversify, investment in our third-level education system and proper funding for organisations such as InterTradeIreland and Tourism Ireland.

Is the Taoiseach aware that the European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt, writing in the Financial Times, has indicated support for the North securing special status as a method of stopping a hard Border? He does so even without the Taoiseach lobbying for that.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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We did that. Mr. Verhofstadt is a member of our group.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Will the Taoiseach tell us whether he raised this issue with the President of Croatia?

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Micheál Martin has a brief supplementary question.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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It was a welcome visit by the Croatian President. She knows Ireland well from her time as her country's Foreign Minister. Ireland was a consistent and strong supporter of Croatian membership of the European Union. One of the striking things about her visit was how much it reinforced the imbalance in many of our diplomatic relations. Croatia has three permanent diplomats assigned to Dublin. In contrast, we have one assigned to Zagreb. Negotiations on Brexit have so far focused overwhelmingly on a handful of governments and Brussels. We have contact with all governments but, as I have said to the Taoiseach on numerous occasions, we do not have enough personnel on the ground to go much further than general engagement. An overwhelming lesson we must learn from Brexit is that we must build broader and deeper coalitions with the European Union and its member states. We do not have the personnel to do so. For the past year I have been asking the Taoiseach for a statement concerning staffing and other resources we will put in place for post-Brexit arrangements. We cannot wait two years for this because of recruitment timescales. In view of the changes due to Brexit, we need to increase our personnel levels in the European Union, particularly in places where we have one-person stations. The Taoiseach said to me in the past that a staffing assessment would be prepared. Has this been done? Is the Taoiseach satisfied that we have enough personnel in place to fully represent Ireland on all of these issues?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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With regard to Deputy Burton's question about the fiscal rules, I do not accept that smaller countries are being discriminated against by the European Union. There are many different funds, including social funds, the Cohesion Fund, Common Agricultural Policy funds and so on. The Juncker plan concerns major infrastructure across countries, including transcontinental-----

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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We cannot qualify for it.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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We can but we will not.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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-----facilities such as rail lines, major autobahns and so on. It is not a case of discriminating against small countries. Ireland voted on these fiscal rules in a referendum and 60% of voters approved the issue while 40% did not.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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That was a long time ago.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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It was a long time ago but it is now part of the Constitution. If there has been a referendum on the issue, one cannot just change the rules again. The Labour Party has put forward a view that sufficient-----

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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When the Taoiseach's-----

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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We shall hear from the Taoiseach, without interruption, or we will move on.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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-----resources are not being expended in capital works. We are now in a position of being able to borrow ten-year money at 0.1%.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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We cannot spend it, however.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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When Deputy Burton entered Government with Fine Gael in 2011, the rate was almost 15%. It is not a case of not having access to money, it is not spending willy-nilly to a point where construction inflation increases out of all order and money goes by the tonne into the hands of developers. It is a case of having a balanced approach to the way the money is spent and the economy is managed at the same time. The referendum was approved by 60% of voters. It is part of what we accepted. Ireland was the only country to have a referendum on it. We need to move on to avail of other major projects from the European Investment Bank and so on.

Deputy Adams spoke about the Croatian President. She is a very capable woman. She is a former Foreign Minister and a Fulbright scholar. She is very well clued-in to the situation across Europe and beyond. Deputy Adams described last week's meeting as shambolic. I explained at that meeting that included in the detailed document published is the outcome of the European Council meeting. That meeting, the European Parliament meeting and the European Commission meeting all agreed on one thing, which is that there are particular and unique circumstances applying to Ireland. I read Mr. Verhofstadt's article today. When I asked last week if there was any need for further discussions, there was no response because we were going to have discussions and statements in the House, which we had. I do not regard the meeting as having been shambolic. Perhaps Deputy Adams does for purposes outside this House.

Who is now talking about Northern Ireland? It is the Irish Government. The Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Dara Murphy, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Flanagan, in their foreign affairs and European roles have spoken to every single person who has anything to do with European issues. The Minister of State had a full bilateral meeting with representatives from Croatia less than two months ago. The English are all over Europe talking about Northern Ireland. The Irish are all over Europe talking about Northern Ireland. However, nobody from Northern Ireland is doing so. The Scottish are all over Europe talking about Scotland. Who is speaking for Northern Ireland? This Government is doing so. Who is mentioning it? This Government. Who else is mentioning it? Britain is mentioning it. It is being said that there is no wish for a return to a hard Border. Imagination and creativity are required to deal with this issue. We want the closest possible relationship with the United Kingdom from a European point of view. However, there is no voice from Northern Ireland being heard in Europe. The only voices to be heard are Irish and British. We are happy to continue to explain, in so far as we can, the details, the problems and the unique, particular and special circumstances that apply to Northern Ireland.