Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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277. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the planned meetings with his European colleagues and officials to address Brexit related issues. [39077/17]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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279. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he has spoken to his EU counterparts regarding Brexit recently. [39096/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 277 and 279 together.

Since I took up office in June, engagement on Brexit with EU partners has been a central element of my work. This approach, building on the work done by my predecessor, has yielded clear results in ensuring that Ireland’s unique issues and concerns have been fully understood by our EU27 partners and have been reflected in the EU’s negotiating position. As the negotiations enter an important phase over the coming weeks and months, continuing such engagement with EU partners, both at political and official level, will remain a key priority.

On Monday 4 September, I met with Michel Barnier, the EU’s Chief Negotiator on Brexit, and his team. This was our second meeting since my appointment. It was a constructive meeting in which we discussed the evolution of the negotiations. I welcomed the progress that has been made in the areas of citizens’ rights and a range of technical separation issues. However, it is clear that there are still many issues outstanding, not least on the issue of the financial settlement, and much work is still required ahead of any decision by the European Council on whether sufficient progress has been made.

We also discussed the Irish specific issues, which are one of the three priority issues for phase one of the negotiations. While some progress is being made on these issues, most notably with regard to the Common Travel Area, much work is still required on protecting the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts and the gains of the peace process, including sustaining North South cooperation and avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland. The Government supports the Task Force’s Guiding Principles on Ireland and Northern Ireland which reflects our priorities and sets out important principles that should form the basis of future solutions on the Irish specific issues as part of the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement.

During my visit to Brussels earlier this month I also met with MEPs from across the political spectrum within the European Parliament, including with Guy Verhofstadt, the Parliament's Coordinator on Brexit, and with Irish MEPs. This provided a valuable opportunity to engage with them at the beginning of a new parliamentary term and to update them on Ireland’s perspective on the negotiations. I am glad that Guy Verhofstadt will be visiting Ireland later this week, as it is a further indication of the priority afforded by the European Parliament to Ireland’s unique concerns within the context of Brexit.

Since my appointment, I have also held bilateral meetings with a number of my EU colleagues, including my Estonian, Luxembourg, French, Slovak, Belgian and Spanish counterparts. I also welcomed the Finnish Foreign Minister to Ireland in July. Earlier this month I had short meetings with my counterparts from Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Slovenia, as well as the Cypriot Minister for Defence, at the Gymnich/Informal Meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council.

My officials also continue to meet their counterparts in other Member States, and of course the Permanent Representation in Brussels is also key to this work.

In my meetings with EU partners to date, I have laid particular emphasis on Ireland’s objective of protecting the gains of the peace process and avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland. I have strongly emphasised the need for an imaginative and flexible political solution. In so doing, I have been equally clear that we will only pursue solutions that are compatible with our aim of protecting the integrity of the Single Market and Ireland’s place in it. I will continue to deliver this message in my engagements in the coming weeks.