Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

48. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on the withdrawal agreement pertaining to Britain leaving the EU as published by the EU; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10819/18]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Guidelines adopted by the European Council last December called upon the Union negotiator and the United Kingdom to complete the work on all withdrawal issues, including those not yet addressed in the first phase, in conformity with the European Council guidelines of 29 April 2017, to consolidate the results obtained, and to start drafting the relevant parts of the Withdrawal Agreement. The publication last week by the European Commission of a draft Withdrawal Agreement is fully in line with this mandate. This is an EU draft which will now be considered internally by EU Member States before being subject to negotiations between the EU Task Force and the UK. The EU has made it clear that negotiations in phase two can only progress as long as all commitments undertaken in the first phase are respected in full and translated into legal terms as quickly as possible.The draft text reflects the principles and commitments set out in the Joint Report from the EU and UK negotiators published on 8 December 2017, including on citizens’ rights, the financial settlement and on the Irish specific issues.

I welcome the draft protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is an integral part of the proposed withdrawal agreement. The draft protocol gives legal effect to the commitments on avoiding a hard border and protecting the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts. It also includes elements on rights and on the Common Travel Area. Since they were agreed in December, we have been working closely with the Task Force to ensure the implementation of the principles and commitments through the Withdrawal Agreement. We are fully satisfied with how this process was managed.

The Government has always been clear that our preference is to resolve the Irish-specific issues through the wider future relationship agreement between the EU and the UK, a view we share with the UK government. We also stand ready to consider proposals from the UK on specific solutions. At the same time, it is necessary to have legal certainty on the backstop as part of the Withdrawal Agreement. This is a default and will only be triggered if the commitments made by the UK in phase one cannot be delivered through the wider future relationship agreement or specific solutions.

It is intended that the eventual Withdrawal Agreement will also include transition arrangements, the draft legal text on which is separately under negotiation between the EU and UK. Appropriate transitional arrangements would be hugely important for Ireland in giving certainty to individuals and businesses. We welcome that the EU has proposed that the whole of the EU acquiswill apply during the transition, which means that the status quo will be preserved with the aim of avoiding any gaps or cliff edge effects between the UK leaving the EU and when a future relationship agreement enters into force.