Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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45. To ask the Taoiseach if Brexit was on the agenda at the informal meeting of Heads of Government in Salzburg. [37883/18]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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48. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the informal Heads of Government meeting in Salzburg on 19 and 20 September 2018. [38618/18]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 45 and 48 together.

I attended the Informal meeting of EU Heads of State and Government in Salzburg on 19 and 20 September. The Summit, which was chaired by the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, was one of a series of such meetings relating to the Future of Europe.

On this occasion, our focus was on issues relating to migration, and internal security. We had a useful exchange on how best to progress our comprehensive approach to migration, as agreed in June. On internal security, we discussed a range of issues including the increasing complexity of cyber threats, including to the integrity of our electoral systems.

We also met in Article 50 format to review progress in the Brexit negotiations and to discuss next steps. I reiterated the need to ensure that the Withdrawal Agreement between the EU and the UK includes a legally operable backstop, to ensure there can be no return to a hard border on the island of Ireland in any circumstances, and thanked partners for their ongoing strong support and solidarity on this.

Ongoing political engagement with our EU and international partners, remains crucial, in relation to Brexit and other important EU issues. I meet and speak regularly with my EU counterparts bilaterally, and at formal and informal meetings of the European Council, where I use every opportunity to advance Ireland's interests.

I had a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister May in Salzburg where we discussed the Brexit negotiations as well as developments in relation to Northern Ireland.

I look forward to meeting my EU counterparts again later this month at the European Council in Brussels on 17 and 18 October.