Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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677. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the extent to which he and his Department continue to engage with colleagues in the EU, UK, Northern Ireland and Scotland with a view to ensuring that notwithstanding Brexit, Ireland retains full and unconditional access to the Single Market and the UK market. [41010/16]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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Since the UK’s decision to leave the European Union, the Government has been very clear that Ireland’s own position is unchanged: we remain a committed member of the EU and of the Eurozone. EU membership has been central to Ireland’s economic and social progress of recent years. Now, more than ever, our membership of the EU must remain at the heart of our engagement with the wider world. Continued EU membership guarantees access to a Single Market of 500 million consumers and is vital to the economic well-being of the Irish people. In facing the challenges of the UK withdrawal from the EU, the priority areas for the Government also remain unchanged – this is about our citizens, our economy, Northern Ireland, our Common Travel Area and the future of the EU itself. We continue to outline these priority issues at all of our meetings with EU counterparts – at both official and political level. From an EU perspective, the Taoiseach, the Minister of State for European Affairs and I remain actively engaged with our European counterparts, as do other Ministers and senior officials. At this critical phase, building on the round of contacts I have had since 23 June with each one of my EU counterparts, efforts are intensifying to ensure that an understanding of our priority issues is reinforced and factored into negotiations with the UK when these formally commence. I spoke with several EU Foreign Ministers at the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels yesterday, and had an in-depth discussion with the newly appointed Spanish Foreign Minister; I plan to meet more of my colleagues in the period ahead. My officials have also had a range of recent engagements with their colleagues in other EU Member States and with the EU institutions, and these will continue in the weeks and months to come. In parallel, the Government continues to engage closely with the UK government and the devolved administrations and of course more broadly with Northern Ireland, including through the All-Island Civic Dialogue. The Taoiseach met with Prime Minister May in July last and is due to meet her again at the end of January. I have met with the UK Secretary of State for Exiting the EU and his Parliamentary Under Secretary, as well as the UK Foreign Secretary and on a number of occasions, with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. There have also been very constructive discussions at political and official level within the framework of the British Irish Council, while the First Minister of the Scottish Government, Nicola Sturgeon, visited Dublin at the end of November and met with me in Iveagh House.

Our planning ahead of the negotiations – both for the risks and opportunities for Ireland – is currently intensifying and Departments are deepening and refining their understanding of the key issues. This work is still challenging as it is still not known what kind of relationship the UK will seek to have with the EU post-departure. On this, we await further clarification from Prime Minister May in due course, and of course the outcome of subsequent negotiations. But it is the Government’s hope that the future EU-UK relationship will be close and positive, and that within that context our thriving economic and trading relationship with the UK will continue to develop.