Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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50. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the position on the backstop following the deferred vote in the UK Parliament. [52118/18]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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On 10 December, the UK Government decided to defer the meaningful vote in the House of Commons on the Withdrawal Agreement. The European Council will discuss Brexit developments at its meeting on 13 December, taking account of an update from Prime Minister May. The Government’s position on the backstop remains unchanged. Throughout the negotiations it has been a priority to protect the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts, and to ensure that there will be no hard border on the island of Ireland under any circumstances. This remains our position, which is shared by our EU partners and is fully protected in the Withdrawal Agreement.

The President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, and the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, have made it very clear that the Agreement cannot be renegotiated. This includes the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is an integral part of the Withdrawal Agreement and which includes the backstop provisions.

President Tusk has stated that the European Council is ready to discuss how to facilitate UK ratification of the Withdrawal Agreement. It may be possible to provide the UK with reassurances or statements of clarification but the EU and the Government have made it clear that these can in no way contradict or change the meaning of the legal text agreed in the Withdrawal Agreement.

We are hopeful that, when the vote is rescheduled, the UK Parliament will decide to approve the Withdrawal Agreement and the Political Declaration on the Framework for the EU-UK Future Relationship, which have been agreed following long and difficult negotiations and which represent a fair and balanced outcome.