Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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10. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel on 20 March 2018 in Berlin; and if he discussed corporate tax rates and the European Commission proposal for a digital tax with the chancellor. [13797/18]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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11. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his meeting with Chancellor Merkel; and the issues that were discussed. [13927/18]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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12. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his meeting with Chancellor Merkel on 20 March 2018. [13943/18]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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13. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent meeting with Chancellor Merkel. [13952/18]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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14. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his meeting with Chancellor Merkel on 20 March 2018. [13982/18]

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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15. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent engagement with Chancellor Angela Merkel on 20 March 2018. [14007/18]

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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16. To ask the Taoiseach the foreign visits he plans to undertake to the end of June 2018. [16168/18]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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17. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his meeting with the mayor of Chicago, Mr. Rahm Emanuel. [16665/18]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 to 17, inclusive, together.

I travelled to Berlin on 20 March for a bilateral meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel as part of my strategic engagement with our European partners. We discussed preparations for the March European Council, including Brexit, trade, Economic and Monetary Union, EMU, and the tax challenges of digitalisation. I also took the opportunity to congratulate the Chancellor on her recent re-election for the fourth time.

On Brexit, we welcomed the previous day's agreement between the task force and the United Kingdom that a backstop for the Irish Border, agreed to in December, would have to be legally operative in the withdrawal agreement, to apply unless and until an alternative solution was agreed to. I took the opportunity to thank the Chancellor for her ongoing support and solidarity for our unique concerns arising from Brexit, especially the need to protect the Good Friday Agreement and ensure there would no be hard border on the island of Ireland.

I updated the Chancellor on my meeting with President Trump in Washington the previous week. As representatives of countries that both support free and fair trade, we shared concerns about the President's approach to steel and aluminium tariffs and looked forward to clarification on the exemption process for the European Union, which was forthcoming later that week.

On Economic and Monetary Union, we agreed on the importance of ongoing work by Finance Ministers, with a view to decisions in June in areas where agreement was strongest such as completing banking union and further developing the European Stability Mechanism.

On the tax challenges of digitalisation, we agreed that all companies, including large digital platforms, should pay their fair share of tax based on where value was created, not simply where a transaction happened. We will continue to engage actively with ongoing work at both Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD, and EU level. I highlighted my concern that unilateral EU action had the potential to damage EU competitiveness and disadvantage smaller member states and also that it might result in a retaliatory response from the United States. We did not have a broader discussion about corporate tax rates, which are clearly a matter of national competence. Ireland's 12.5% rate is long-standing Government policy and remains the centrepiece of our competitive tax offering. The Chancellor and I agreed more generally that Europe must adopt a positive approach to digitalisation and that our approach should not be insular. That means a digital Single Market that is open, competitive and innovation-friendly, with high levels of protection for personal privacy and the free flow of non-personal data.

Our exchanges also covered bilateral relations, which are excellent. I look forward to the further strengthening of this relationship in the period ahead as we tackle the urgent demands of Brexit and play our part in shaping the European Union's response to new challenges and opportunities. This work will be guided by the comprehensive review of relations between Ireland and Germany that was published by the Tánaiste last Thursday. It is entitled, Ireland and Germany, A Wider and Deeper Footprint.

I also met the Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, on Easter Sunday for a brief courtesy call. As well as discussing the mayor's programme in Ireland, we discussed Brexit and political and economic developments in Ireland and the United States. After that, he attended the Leinster game in the Aviva Stadium as my guest.

Forthcoming visits include a speaking engagement in the university in Leuven on 26 April; the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Sofia, Bulgaria, on 17 May; and the European Council in Brussels on 28 and 29 June. A number of other visits are also envisaged. They will be announced once they are confirmed.

Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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With the United Kingdom leaving the European Union, the Franco-German axis is becoming more central in determining the future of the European Union, the dynamics of which will change. It is welcome that the Taoiseach travelled to Berlin last month to meet the Chancellor. German support for the Irish position of avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland will be very important coming up to the June summit and perhaps the October summit too. I hope it is firmly in place. I know from my experience that Germans are very interested in the peace process and want to see it maintained. I hope the Taoiseach impressed on the Chancellor the important role small nation states have to play in the evolution of the European Union. He has stated we are willing to pay more into the EU budget post-2020, which is reasonable. His meeting took place against the background of a Commission proposal for a digital tax and the ongoing push for a consolidated corporate tax base and the harmonisation of corporation tax generally. There are also discussions on the reform of the eurozone and its governance. I know that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, has allied Ireland with northern EU states in that regard. Did the Taoiseach impress on the Chancellor the tax rules and rates for individual member states and that there was to be no weakening of tax sovereignty as far as individual nation states were concerned? If he did, what was the Chancellor's reaction?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Yesterday the Government issued its latest Brexit briefing, which is startling since it seems to be already out of date. The bulletin points to the schedule of meetings in Ireland agreed to for the negotiations. What it does not state is that the schedule is already well behind. The most crucial meetings intended at co-ordinator level were delayed and are no longer due to be separated from other negotiations. I do not know whether the Taoiseach discussed that matter with the Chancellor. The bulletin also talks about the key issues being decided in June, but yesterday the Tánaiste admitted that there had been no substantive progress and said everything might fall apart. I know that conflicts with the Taoiseach's position and that he does not see a problem with everything being delayed until October. However, the Tánaiste has a different view. Will the Taoiseach tell me why the co-ordinators' meeting was delayed and if he was consulted about the move away from the agreed schedule of meetings? Will he explain if he agreed that the meetings would no longer be focused solely on Ireland but could be linked with a meeting on the overall final status negotiations? I am sure he will accept that this flies in the face of an earlier claim that negotiations on the backstop had been decoupled from negotiations on the final status of UK-EU relations.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Germany is the most powerful state in the European Union and probably the biggest supporter in Europe of the state of Israel. Does the Taoiseach ever raise questions with it about its policy of providing pretty much uncritical support for Israel, particularly given what has happened? Before the Easter break, I warned the Taoiseach in this House that innocent, unarmed protestors would be shot by Israeli snipers. That was two days before it happened and the Taoiseach did not answer the question. I asked him to speak up if people were killed, but the European Union has remained silent. Unarmed protestors marched to vindicate international law. The right to return is part of international law, as confirmed by United Nations resolutions. Some 34 unarmed Palestinians were shot for trying to assert their rights under international law.

No Israeli diplomats were expelled and there was no threat of sanctions or discussion of military strikes or other measures. Does the Taoiseach think he should speak up to the leaders of other European Union countries, Germany in particular, who do not like to criticise Israel, and tell them this is not acceptable and that Europe should take action and sanction Israel for this murderous activity?

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I have raised on several occasions that this is an unsatisfactory way to deal with fundamental issues. The Taoiseach has in the past agreed with me that we must have a better structure for debate on Brexit issues. I want my party to be supportive of the Government position because it is in our national interest that, by and large, the House be united in terms of its thinking on and approach to this issue. Although I do not wish to be discordant, I am a little concerned that there seems to be a divergence of views coming from the Government. At the weekend, I heard the Taoiseach's view which gives comfort to those in the United Kingdom who are positing the position that it will be all right, we can have a normal relationship after Brexit and everything will be fine. Some in Britain are campaigning for the final settlement to be put to a vote. That is in our national interest and I hope that all Members will work to that end.

The Tánaiste, Deputy Coveney, has stated that if we do not see substantive progress on the alternative to a backstop by June, then we will not see it by October. However, the Taoiseach has stated that it will be grand if we do not see it until October. We must have much clearer, sharper and more joined up messaging. I would like the opportunity for us to debate these issues in the House such that we can all be on message and be clearer in the message we are giving to the United Kingdom authorities in particular.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I thank Deputy Howlin. There shall be no more questions or answers on this issue as the allocated time has elapsed.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Who groups the questions?

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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We will have to find a more satisfactory way to deal with this item of business because it is not working as currently structured.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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There should be fewer questions and more time to answer them.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Who groups the questions?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Leaving party politics aside, when one has three minutes in which to answer 17 questions, one will only be able to answer two or three of them.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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We will ask the Dáil reform committee to quickly-----

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Who groups the questions?

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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-----look at this matter. The Department of the Taoiseach groups the questions but if they are all similar, one cannot go through them individually.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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To give an example, Questions Nos. 6 to 9, inclusive, were grouped together. Those questions were to ask the Taoiseach when Cabinet committee B will next meet and when it last met. It is fair to group those questions together but there still was not sufficient time to answer them because they were omnibus questions.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I acknowledge that we must deal with these matters.