Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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213. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he expects Irish citizens to be able to continue to work in the United Kingdom following the United Kingdom's exit from the EU; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5107/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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It is the firm objective of the Government that Irish citizens will be able to continue to live and work freely in the United Kingdom following the UK’s exit from the EU.

A central element in achieving this objective will be the continuation of the Common Travel Area (CTA) arrangements between Ireland and the UK. At their meeting in Dublin earlier this week, at which I participated, the Taoiseach and Prime Minister May reaffirmed their joint commitment to maintaining the CTA and to continuing the two governments’ work together on this.

For her part, Prime Minister May has listed the CTA as one of her priorities for the exit process. In her public statements around her Dublin visit, she referenced the status of Irish citizens in UK law as well as her wish for the rights Irish and UK citizens enjoy in both countries to continue.

In the particular case of the CTA, as in regard to other specific-Irish related issues, it is clearly essential that we secure the understanding and support of the EU institutions and Member States regarding this long-standing and important bilateral arrangement. With a view to achieving this, the Government continues to engage very actively at both the political and official/diplomatic levels in setting out this and other key priorities to them.

It is important and welcome that Ireland’s concerns have been explicitly and publicly recognised by the chief negotiators of both the Commission and the European Parliament, Michel Barnier and Guy Verhofstadt respectively.

Therefore, while pending the triggering of Article 50 of the Treaty on the European Union by the United Kingdom, formal negotiations have not yet begun, important groundwork has been done with both the UK government and with our EU partners. In tandem with this, the government, my Department, and our diplomatic missions in the UK will continue their close contact with the Irish community as the exit process continues.