Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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122. 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 a no-hard Border on the island of Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48118/18]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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From the outset of the Brexit negotiations, the Government has been clear on the need to ensure that a hard border cannot return to the island of Ireland. The backstop, included in the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland in the draft Withdrawal Agreement agreed by EU and UK negotiators, and accepted by the UK Cabinet, achieves this. We hope it will not be needed. Both sides are committed to the negotiation of a future EU-UK relationship that will be sufficiently close and comprehensive as to make it unnecessary. However, if a future relationship agreement delivering that outcome is not operable by 31 December 2020, or by the end of any extended transition period, if that is requested, the backstop will apply unless and until it is superseded by alternative arrangements that ensure the same outcome.

In the event that the backstop were applied, there would be a single EU-UK customs territory, negating the need for tariffs, quotas or checks on rules of origin between the EU and the UK.

The EU and the UK have agreed on a set of measures to ensure that there would be a level playing field between the EU and the UK.

Certain elements, such as the Union’s Custom Code, will continue to apply to Northern Ireland, ensuring that Northern Irish businesses will not be subject to restrictions when selling into the EU’s Single Market. They will also be aligned with a limited set of rules related to the EU’s Single Market that are essential to avoiding a hard border. This includes elements related to legislation on goods, SPS checks, agricultural controls and VAT and excise in respect of goods.

This meets the commitments given by the UK last December that, in the absence of a full agreement to avoid a hard border as part of the future relationship, the UK would maintain full alignment with those rules of the Single Market and Customs Union necessary to protect the all-island economy, North-South Cooperation and the Good Friday Agreement.

Let me be clear. We hope this backstop is never needed, but its inclusion is a necessary insurance policy to guarantee that a hard border never returns to the island of Ireland.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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124. 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. [48119/18]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I, as well as officials from my Department, am in ongoing contact with representatives of EU Member States, the Commission Task Force under Michel Barnier, and the UK. We liaise very closely on agricultural issues with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and his officials.As regards the movement of animals and agricultural products between North and South, the backstop in the draft Withdrawal Agreement agreed on 14 November at negotiator level and endorsed by the British cabinet provides for the necessary regulatory alignment between Northern Ireland and the EU on those elements of the EU Single Market relevant to the avoidance of a hard border. They includes sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) controls, and rules on agricultural production and marketing.

With regard to the future EU-UK relationship, both the EU and the UK have identified cooperation in the area of agriculture and trade in agri-food products as important aspects of the future trading relationship. Ireland wants the closest possible relationship between the EU and the UK, including in the area of trade, and in particular as regards agriculture and trade in agri-foods. This will be a priority for us in negotiations on the future relationship. A draft political declaration of the future relationship, to be adopted at the extraordinary European Council Summit on 25 November, will form the basis for negotiations on a detailed legal agreement once the UK has left the EU on 29 March 2019.