Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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365. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if there will be an exemption in the Brexit agreement regarding transport of approved rescue dogs from both jurisdictions; and if this could be facilitated between Ireland and the UK. [53173/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The Article 50 negotiations between the EU and the UK proceeded on the basis of the phased approach set out in the European Council Guidelines of 29 April 2017, which foresaw that discussions on the future EU-UK relationship will get under way as soon as sufficient progress has been made on the EU’s key priorities under the withdrawal process – notably citizens’ rights, the UK’s financial settlement and the Irish specific issues.

In this regard, I welcome that Prime Minister May and European Commission President Juncker reached agreement on a joint progress report last Friday and I hope that this week’s European Council will agree with the recommendation of Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier and that we can start discussions on a future relationship and any transitional arrangements as soon as possible.

Post-Brexit arrangements in relation to the movement of animals, including the transport of approved rescue dogs between Ireland and the UK, will form part of the future relationship strand of the EU/UK negotiation process.

As I have indicated previously, my Department’s approach to these negotiations is to work towards ensuring that the future EU-UK relationship will be as close to the current arrangements as possible, thereby minimising the potential impact on the movement of animals, which is important for a broad range of reasons, including the need to ensure that approved rescue dogs can move between Ireland and the UK without undue disruption.