Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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113. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he spoke with the leaders of the SNP or Welsh Assembly before or after the December 2018 EU General Affairs Council meeting. [53430/18]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The General Affairs Council is not attended by members of the SNP or the Welsh Assembly, with the UK being represented by UK Government Ministers. As such, I have not spoken with either SNP or Welsh Assembly representatives at, or in relation to, these EU meetings.

However, as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, I continue to engage on a regular basis with the First Ministers of both Scotland and Wales and their respective administrations. Indeed, the importance of developing our links with the UK regions has been expressly recognised by this Government in our foreign policy blueprint, Global Ireland. We will continue to engage with both the Scottish and Welsh Administrations through our team at the Embassy of Ireland in London, our existing Consulate-General in Edinburgh, and our new Consulate-General in Cardiff which will open in early 2019.