Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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113. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he spoke to his UK counterparts regarding the political declaration to be finalised before the November 2018 EU Council meeting. [49435/18]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The negotiations on both the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement and political declaration on the framework for the EU-UK future relationship, both of which we were endorsed by the European Council on 25 November, were conducted on behalf of the EU27 by the EU's Chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, and the Commission's Article 50 Taskforce. Brexit is a priority issue for this Government, and the Taoiseach, my cabinet colleagues and I have taken every opportunity to engage with EU partners and the UK to advance Ireland’s priorities. Recently, I have had a number of engagements with UK ministers on the issue of Brexit. On 31 October, I met with Jeremy Hunt in London for a second time that month, a day after I met Dominic Raab, then the UK Secretary of State for Exiting the EU. I also met with David Lidington, the UK Minister of the Cabinet Office in September in Dublin, and have remained in regular phone contact. On 23 November, I spoke on the phone with the newly appointed UK Secretary of State for Exiting the EU, Steve Barclay. I conveyed to Mr Barclay my hope that agreement on the Withdrawal Agreement and the political declaration on the framework for the future relationship at the upcoming European Council will enable the EU and the UK to focus more intently on the future relationship and on the considerable work that lies ahead. I stressed Ireland's wish to have the closest possible relationship between the EU and the UK.