Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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4. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the international, European Union and Northern Ireland division of his Department. [17817/18]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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5. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the international, European Union and Northern Ireland division of his Department. [18782/18]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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6. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the international, European Union and Northern Ireland division of his Department. [18888/18]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 4 to 6 together.

The international, EU and Northern Ireland division of my Department covers work on all international, EU, British-Irish and Northern Ireland affairs within the Department, including Brexit issues. The division supports me in my international role including as a member of the European Council and in my other EU and international engagements. The division also provides advice and support to me on Northern Ireland affairs, British-Irish relations and on Brexit. The division provides advice, briefing and support in respect of my varied international engagements, including meetings of the European Council and other EU summits, bilateral engagements with Heads of Government of EU member states and other countries and in respect of international affairs more generally. The division also supports the work of Cabinet committee C which deals with EU affairs and Brexit and works closely with other relevant Departments, most particularly the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Taoiseach as ucht a chuid freagra.

I welcome the visit to Ireland by Mr. Michel Barnier. Yesterday's all-island civic dialogue on Brexit in Dundalk was a very good initiative which was particularly enjoyed by the young people who were invited to participate. Mr. Barnier is also due to visit Newry, Derry and Dungannon and it is very important that he makes those trips. I was pleased to see that the Taoiseach visited Warrenpoint and Lurgan. Those visits were also extremely important and I am sure the Taoiseach did not miss how warmly he was welcomed by all sections of the community. In that context, the obnoxious, racially charged and very discourteous remarks made by a person formerly known as Mr. John Taylor, now known as Lord Kilclooney, are to be absolutely rejected. In my experience, such remarks do not represent the attitude of the vast majority of people from any side of the community, where people carry themselves with considerably more dignity and courtesy than that.

I was interested to hear Mr. Barnier's comments in respect of the Border, the backstop and the answer to the Irish question. I also listened very carefully to what the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste had to say. I want to reiterate that I am very concerned that these matters have slipped from December to March and now on into June. We are being told that June, rather than being a red line or a definitive date, is now a stepping stone. That is a very dangerous game to play. It is a deliberate strategy on the part of the British Government to play down the clock and I ask the Taoiseach to give his views on this again. I would like to hear him firm up the Dublin position in respect of June and to reiterate to Mrs. May's Government that we need an answer and that it needs to come forward by June with its proposed solution.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Lord Kilclooney, also known as Mr. John Taylor, would be well advised to apologise for the slur that he attempted to cast on the Taoiseach. He is an ardent Brexiteer and has very hot feelings about Brexit but that does not permit him to use the kind of language he used yesterday. That said, the DUP heavily criticised the Taoiseach for his informal visit to Armagh and Down because local politicians were not informed in advance. There is a long-standing tradition south of the Border that when events of significance to local communities are taking place all public representatives, including Members of the Oireachtas and councillors, are invited. Given that he is still in the early days of being Taoiseach, is it his policy when he is presiding at significant public functions on either side of the Border to ensure that all local representatives are offered the opportunity to be present? The comments by the DUP are evidence of very strained relations. Has the Taoiseach been able to do anything to improve communications with the DUP? Does the Taoiseach have any plans to improve the relationship between his Government and the DUP? Who is in charge of protocol for these visits? Is it a joint arrangement between the Taoiseach's office and the Northern Ireland Office?

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Is the international and EU division of the Taoiseach's Department at all concerned about the massacre that Israel has been perpetrating against unarmed protesters in Gaza for the last number of weeks? Two days before those protests began I begged the Taoiseach to condemn and speak out against any likely Israeli armed attack on those protests but the Taoiseach ignored me in the Dáil that day. I have asked the Taoiseach about this every week since then, as the death toll has risen to 42. Unarmed protesters who represent no threat to human life have been shot down by Israeli armed forces. Those forces have admitted, in the face of protests by Israeli and Palestinian civil society, that they are using the rules of war and military engagement to deal with unarmed protesters. The UN has spoken out on this. Last week Mr. Ilan Baruch, the former Israeli ambassador to South Africa, compared what has been done in the last few weeks to Bloody Sunday. He said that these events are Palestine's Bloody Sunday but are happening week in, week out. He condemned the European Union, including Ireland, for its failure to use diplomatic means to deter Israel from such direct and brutal violence towards unarmed, non-violent Palestinian demonstrators. He asked if Irish and EU leaders preferred profitable economic co-operation with Israel over upholding international human rights. He went on to say that firing live ammunition at non-violent, unarmed demonstrators is "an act of inconceivable brutality, yet standing indifferently on the sidelines is inconceivable, too". He accused European governments, including the Irish Government, of doing exactly that. Where is the condemnation? Where are the expulsions and sanctions? We have absolute, deadly silence. Teenagers are being mowed down by snipers and nobody is doing anything. I ask the Taoiseach to say something about this.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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On about four occasions in the last six months I have asked the Taoiseach to detail the specific numbers of staff assigned to each area within this very broad division.

This is something that previous taoisigh have been willing to do. Will the Taoiseach tell us exactly how many officials are working on the distinct roles of international affairs, EU affairs and Northern Ireland? Each of these areas has separate management positions within the Department. It should be eminently possible to disaggregate the number of officials in each area. A continued refusal to supply these numbers will suggest an intention to gloss over how few people are working on particular tasks that have been identified as national priorities.

I described Brexit yesterday as an ugly campaign, among many other things. I think the remarks of former MP Taylor can be considered in a similar vein. One of the core elements of the work of this division relates to Brexit. The timetable is not clear. I have been criticised by Government Ministers for rearticulating, to some extent, what the Tánaiste had said about the June deadline. If the June deadline is not reached, we will have to question whether it will be possible to get agreement by October. The Tánaiste made remarks to that effect on the BBC. The Taoiseach said around the same time that he did not mind if this slipped to October. His position was quoted by the UK Secretary of State for Brexit, David Davis, in his effort to ignore the June deadline.

We all got a sense yesterday that this will be resolved in October. That was the clear impression yesterday. The Taoiseach might have a contrary view. There is talk of substantial progress by June. Has anyone defined what "substantial progress" means? Is it still the Taoiseach's view that this can be resolved in October? Is he concerned about what appears to the twin-tracking of the final status negotiations and the resolution of the question of the island of Ireland, as Deputy Burton has set out?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the leaders of the various parties for attending the all-island civic dialogue and staying to hear the contributions of other leaders. Many leaders stayed well into the day to speak to some of the young people who were in attendance. I thank leaders for that. This valuable dialogue has taken place on a number of occasions. It is not just about politicians talking to politicians - it also involves politicians talking to farmers and business leaders etc. I am delighted that someone from the Orange Order attended yesterday's meeting. It was very welcome. It was very useful to have young people and people from all the different sectors in attendance. It was great to have Michel Barnier here in Ireland. He visited Dundalk and he went to the North as well. He heard from stakeholders and explained to them the EU's position with regard to Brexit. The EU is willing to make special treatment and special provisions for Northern Ireland that it cannot make for the UK as a whole.

Regarding my visit to the North yesterday, I had the opportunity to visit the port of Warrenpoint, which is one of the few ports in Ireland I had not previous visited. As a former Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, I like my ports and airports. I also visited the Jethro Centre in Lurgan, which has received funding from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. It serves both communities but has its origin as the Protestant parish centre. The visit I enjoyed the most was my visit to New-Bridge Integrated College, which is one of the integrated education secondary schools in Northern Ireland. It is called New-Bridge because it is halfway between Newry and Banbridge and takes kids from both towns. It was really great to have a glimpse or an insight into what a shared future might look like in Northern Ireland. It is attended by kids from both communities and none. Many kids from new communities and migrant communities, including kids from Asian backgrounds, are there too. It gave me a great sense of what the new Northern Ireland might look like.

My visit to Northern Ireland yesterday was deliberately low-key. I can tell Deputy Burton that I have to judge on the day of each visit what is the purpose of the visit. It was very much a low-key visit. I did not have an entourage of local politicians or politicians from the Twenty-six Counties of the Republic with me. I did not invite a big gaggle of media personnel either, although one or two journalists turned up. The particular reason I took this approach was that the only people I have met on my most recent visits to Northern Ireland have been officials and politicians. When I have tried to interact with people, I have found myself surrounded by officials and politicians, with the media snapping me and asking me questions. I wanted to talk to everyday people in a low-key manner about their concerns with regard to Brexit and about their hopes for the future. I wanted to hear from young people who live near the Border in Newry and Banbridge on how they feel about these issues. Approximately 40% of the traffic that comes into Warrenpoint, which is a very important port, turns left and comes across the Border into the Republic of Ireland. I also had a really interesting visit to the Jethro Centre.

Regardless of what others might have to say about it, I certainly felt very welcome in Northern Ireland and I intend to visit again. There will be low-key visits and there will be full-protocol formal visits as well. I have to say that any time I go North of the Border, I feel very welcome on all sides. The protocol is that I contact the Northern Ireland Office. That is done by my protocol department. We have to do that because they provide security. We had some Police Service of Northern Ireland security with us. In the absence of an Executive, it is not possible to contact an Executive or Government in Northern Ireland. There is no Executive, so I contact the Northern Ireland Office instead. I saw Lord Kilclooney's tweet. I had thought it was a parody account, but seemingly it is not. It is for real. That is all I will say about that.

The EU position with regard to June and October, which of course is Ireland's position because we negotiate as a group of 27 member states, is outlined in the guidelines. We will meet again at the June Council meeting to review progress. As the Tánaiste has said, as I have said and as Michel Barnier has said, we need to see real and substantial progress on the text of the withdrawal agreement by June. If the withdrawal agreement does not contain a protocol on Ireland and on the Irish Border, there will be no withdrawal agreement. I think we are all very clear in that regard.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Is that October?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The deadline for finalising the withdrawal agreement has always been October. I am not sure if that has been understood by everyone.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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It has.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The deadline for finalising the withdrawal agreement has always been October. We expect to see substantial and real progress on the text in June. If that does not happen, we will have to question at that point whether it is going to be possible to come to an agreement at all. We have been very clear on that, as has the EU.

On Deputy Boyd Barrett's question, the Government is of course very concerned about the violence in Israel and Palestine. We condemn the shooting of unarmed civilians by the Israeli Defence Forces - let there be no doubt about that. Of course we also oppose violent protests and any illegal border incursions.