Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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14. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the EU West Balkans summit in Sofia, Bulgaria on 17 May 2018. [22242/18]

Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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19. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the EU summit meeting on the Western Balkans in Sophia. [22603/18]

Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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20. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his visit to Bulgaria and the issues that were discussed. [22611/18]

Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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21. To ask the Taoiseach if the suggested USA tariffs were discussed at meetings that he attended in Bulgaria. [22612/18]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 14 and 19 to 21, inclusive, together.

I travelled to Sofia, Bulgaria, where I participated in an Informal EU Summit on the evening of 16 May, and the EU-Western Balkans Summit on 17 May.

The Informal Summit on 16 May was chaired by President Tusk and focused on innovation and the digital economy and possible future EU actions to promote investment in artificial intelligence and breakthrough innovation.

On transatlantic relations, there was strong support for insisting on a permanent exemption from US tariffs on steel and aluminium and a readiness to engage in subsequent talks with the US on improving reciprocal market access, liberalisation of government procurement and reform of the WTO.

The EU Western Balkans Summit on 17 May was attended by EU leaders and the leaders of the six regional partners - Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo. This was the first such Summit in 15 years. We reaffirmed the European perspective of the Western Balkans and agreed a set of measures for enhanced cooperation with the region.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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25. To ask the Taoiseach when he last spoke to the British Prime Minister, Mrs. Theresa May. [22244/18]

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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29. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his engagement with the British Prime Minister, Mrs Theresa May on 17 May 2018. [22695/18]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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30. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent meeting with the British Prime Minister in Sofia. [22705/18]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 25, 29 and 30 together.

I met with Prime Minister May on the margins of the EU-Western Balkans summit in Sofia, Bulgaria, on 17 May.

We discussed current developments in relation to Brexit and the ongoing efforts to assist the parties in Northern Ireland to re-establish the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement.

Prime Minister May told me that she expects to table a new proposal on the future customs relationship between the European Union and the UK shortly.

I have yet to see the exact detail of any such proposal. I indicated that any move on customs that keeps the UK close to the EU is to be welcomed.

I indicated that we're willing to examine the UK proposal, but we need to see it presented as a formal written proposal in the Brexit negotiations process.

I also emphasised to the Prime Minister that upholding the commitment to avoid a hard border requires progress on more than just customs.

The agreed report from December makes clear that continued alignment on both single market and customs rules is necessary. In many ways, the regulatory issues are even more important than customs here.

More generally, I made clear to the Prime Minister that Ireland would continue to insist on a legally operable backstop being in the Withdrawal Agreement. This would be in line with the commitments made by the UK in December and repeated by the Prime Minister in her letter to Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, in March.

We now need to see concrete progress on the delivery of these commitments by the time of the June European Council.

I have been consistent in my message to both Prime Minister May and my fellow EU Heads of State and Government at the European Council that reintroduction of a border on the island of Ireland is not acceptable under any circumstances.