Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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65. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the details of his engagement with the EU Brexit negotiating team and the UK Government with a view to ensuring regulatory alignment on agriculture matters after the UK leaving the European Union; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14014/18]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I discuss Brexit collectively with my EU27 counterparts on a monthly basis at the General Affairs Council (Art. 50). Maintaining frequent bilateral contact with EU partners is also a priority, both at political and official level. Such meetings provide an opportunity to communicate Ireland’s priorities, including in relation to agriculture, with a view to shaping the EU’s negotiating position with regard to the draft Withdrawal Agreement, including its Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland, as well as the EU’s approach to framework for the future EU-UK relationship. As concerns my personal engagement with the Taskforce, I have met with Michel Barnier in advance of both the February and March meetings of the General Affairs Council (Art. 50). These efforts are yielding clear results. The Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is an integral part of the draft Withdrawal Agreement currently being negotiated between the EU and the UK, sets out in legal terms the backstop arrangement. It allows for full alignment with those rules of the EU's internal market and the customs union which, now or in the future, support North-South cooperation, the all-island economy and the protection of the Good Friday Agreement. As set out in Article 5 of the draft Protocol, this arrangement would include alignment with the provisions of Union law on sanitary and phytosanitary rules as well as provisions of Union law on the production and marketing of agricultural and fisheries products. It has always been intended that the backstop will apply unless and until another solution is found. In this regard, the Government shares the UK’s preference to resolve these issues through the wider agreement on the EU’s future relationship with the UK. I look forward to seeing the UK’s detailed proposals in this regard, and to considering proposals on specific solutions. I also welcome the Guidelines on the future EU-UK relationship which were adopted by the European Council last week, which confirm the EU’s readiness to initiate work towards a balanced, ambitious and wide-ranging free trade agreement (FTA) insofar as there are sufficient guarantees for a level playing field. The EU proposes that such an agreement should cover all sectors, including agriculture, and should address, inter alia, disciplines on technical barriers to trade (TBT) and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures and a framework for voluntary regulatory cooperation.

Brexit is an issue that naturally arises during the frequent bilateral contacts which I, my Government colleagues and our officials have with our UK counterparts. While stressing that Ireland is a member of the EU27 and that the issues involved can only be substantively considered and addressed through the ongoing EU-UK negotiations, such opportunities provide an opportunity to build the UK’s understanding of Ireland’s concerns and priorities with regard to the Irish-specific issues as well as the future EU-UK relationship, including in the area of agriculture.

In recent months, I have had numerous engagement with British Ministers. This has included the Minister for the Cabinet Office, David Lidington, the Secretary of State for Exiting the EU, David Davis, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Karen Bradley. Minister Creed has also met with his counterpart, Secretary of State Gove, during the course of his St Patrick’s Day visit to London. Brexit, and issues relevant to agriculture, have arisen in these meetings.