Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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46. 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 post the UK leaving the European Union; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27759/18]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My officials and I maintain intensive contact with the EU Taskforce. My most recent meeting with Michel Barnier took place yesterday, immediately in advance of the General Affairs Council (Art. 50). Such meetings provide an opportunity to take stock of progress in the negotiations and 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 the framework for the future EU-UK relationship.My Government colleagues and I also engage frequently with our UK counterparts. I have spoken with the Minister for the Cabinet Office, David Lidington, on a number of occasions in recent weeks. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and The Marine, Michael Creed TD, recently met his UK counterpart, Michael Gove. Such engagement provides an opportunity to underline the importance of finalizing the Protocol as an integral and indispensable part of the Withdrawal Agreement.

The draft Protocol includes provisions which foresee 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.

As concerns the framework for the future relationship, I welcome that the Guidelines on the future EU-UK relationship adopted by the European Council last March 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.

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.

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.

At the same time, progress should also be made on the future relationship and in this respect I look forward to seeing the UK’s white paper which they have promised to publish around 9 July.

Everything, including all elements of the Withdrawal Agreement and the framework for the future relationship should be wrapped up by October.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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47. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the degree to which he continues to find support for the Irish position on Brexit and mindful of the need to maintain a common position throughout the EU with a view to achieving a borderless market and taxation economy on the island of Ireland respecting the needs of both communities in Northern Ireland and recognising the importance of a good relationship between the EU and the UK post-Brexit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28030/18]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Maintaining frequent contact with EU partners has been a priority for Ireland throughout the Article 50 negotiations process. I discuss Brexit collectively with my EU27 counterparts on a monthly basis at the General Affairs Council (Article 50), most recently yesterday. Since the last meeting of the European Council in March, I have met with my counterparts from Sweden, Croatia, Cyprus, Portugal, the Netherlands, Germany France, and this week with the new Foreign Ministers of Italy and Spain. In addition to my own contacts, Minister of State for European Affairs, Helen McEntee TD, has met with her Greek, Estonian, Swedish, Norwegian and Portuguese counterparts. The Taoiseach has met with the Prime Ministers of Belgium and Spain, and also met with other EU leaders at the Western Balkans Summit in May. The Taoiseach and I met with both the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker and the EU’s Chief Negotiator for the Article 50 negotiations, Michel Barnier, when they visited Ireland last week. I met with Michel Barnier again in Luxembourg on 26 June in the margins of the General Affairs Council. Further to my own engagement with Mr Barnier, officials from my Department, and in particular from the Permanent Representation of Ireland to the EU in Brussels, continue to have very regular, almost daily engagement with Mr Barnier and his team.In all of these contacts, the Government continues to be assured of the continued support of our EU partners in addressing the unique issues posed by Brexit for the island of Ireland. The solidarity of the EU27 has been crucial in securing commitments and guarantees from the UK on the protection of the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts and the gains of the peace process, including avoiding a hard border.

Mr Juncker confirmed the Commission’s support for the Irish position in his address to the Oireachtas last week. Michel Barnier has also been firm in his support and has consistently made clear that without a backstop, there can be no Withdrawal Agreement. He has also made clear that “this is an EU issue, not only an Irish issue”.

As concerns the future EU-UK relationship, I welcome that the Guidelines adopted by EU leaders last March which reaffirmed EU’s desire to establish a close partnership with the UK. At the same time, the Guidelines also place an important emphasis on the need to ensure a level playing field, stressing that any future agreement must be based on a balance of rights and obligations. The commitment that the EU is willing to revisit its position should the UK’s approach evolve is also of particular importance to Ireland.