Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Eleven months is still a good chunk of time. In the course of that 11 months, the Taoiseach has been before us once. That is equal to the number of appearances before this House by the Scottish First Minister and tomorrow by the lead negotiator of Brexit from the EU side. We all agree that Brexit is one of the biggest threats to this State in its entirety in a generation, if not longer. We have been told repeatedly by the Leader that the Taoiseach leads on this important issue, that he is leading the Government position alongside the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade. We will have Michel Barnier before us in a joint sitting tomorrow. I do not think it is too much to ask that the Taoiseach would come to this House on a more regular basis to afford us the courtesy of updating us on where negotiations and the Irish Government position has reached.

The Government has been mandated by the Dáil to argue for special status for the North. It would be very useful for Senators to hear where things lie regarding that negotiating stance. We have heard some points emerge from the EU side and while Michel Barnier and his colleagues are here tomorrow, we should take the opportunity to convey a very clear message that we too support special status for the North given the democratic vote there and that we support the preservation and the pre-eminence of the Good Friday Agreement and its all-Ireland institutions. Perhaps the Leader could ask the Taoiseach to come in before we break and update Members on where we are at in the Brexit negotiations.