Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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45. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the response in relation to the December 2017 agreement on Brexit. [22611/18]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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52. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on the latest position with regard to an all weather agreement on the Brexit backstop; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27640/18]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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58. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the details of the backstop agreement between the EU and the UK Government with regard to ensuring no hard border on the island of Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27760/18]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose taking questions 45, 52 and 58 together.

The EU’s objective remains that the full legal text of the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement, as well as a detailed political declaration on the framework for the future relationship, be agreed by the October meeting of the European Council.

With a view to achieving this goal, negotiations have been continuing between the EU and the UK to close the remaining gaps on the draft Withdrawal Agreement, including through detailed discussions on the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The draft Protocol, which is an integral part of the Withdrawal Agreement, reflects the principles and commitments set out in the Joint Report from the EU and UK negotiators published on 8 December 2017 with regard to the unique Irish issues. The Protocol seeks to maintain full alignment with those rules of the Single Market and Customs Union that are necessary to protect North South cooperation, the all-island economy and the Good Friday Agreement, as well as avoiding a hard border. This is the backstop and the draft Protocol makes clear that this must be in place unless and until another solution is found. In order words, it must be an ‘all-weather’ solution.

The UK has accepted that a legally operative version of the ‘backstop’ for the border will be included in the Withdrawal Agreement, in line with paragraph 49 of the Joint Progress Report agreed last December, and that all the issues identified in the draft Protocol reflect those that must be addressed.

The draft Protocol includes elements on the rights of the Good Friday Agreement in Article 1 and provisions on wider North-South cooperation in Article 8 which are important for the normal daily life of people on this island. Agreement has already been reached between EU and UK negotiators regarding the Common Travel Area in Article 2, which will allow free movement of Irish and UK citizens between Ireland and the UK to continue.

Last week, the EU and UK negotiating teams published a Joint Statement, which set out the progress made since the March European Council. Disappointingly, the progress reported on the Protocol falls very far short of the EU’s, and the Government’s, expectations.

This is a message the Taoiseach conveyed very clearly to President Juncker when they met last week and the Members of this House also had the opportunity to raise their concerns with President Juncker later that same day.

I welcome that, in response, President Juncker reiterated the EU’s support for Ireland, and that the Protocol, including the backstop, is an integral and indispensable part of the Withdrawal Agreement. This is fully consistent with the strong message of solidarity I received from my EU counterparts, as well as Michel Barnier, when I met with them in Luxembourg yesterday.

On Friday, the Taoiseach will meet with his EU27 counterparts to take stock of developments in the negotiations and discuss the way forward. Ireland will seek to ensure that the EU sends a clear message to the UK that it must respect the commitments it has made and that, in the absence of agreement on a backstop, it will not be possible to finalise the Withdrawal Agreement as a whole, including the transition arrangements.

The overriding priority now is to proceed in the manner that is most likely to achieve agreement on all withdrawal issues, including the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland. While this will ultimately be a matter for the European Council (Article 50) on Friday, the widespread view, which I share, is that stalling the negotiating process would not serve this aim and that talks should intensify with a view to making the necessary progress.