Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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74. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the degree to which he continues to find support for the Irish position on Brexit (details supplied) in view of recent developments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4121/19]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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We maintain frequent contact with our EU partners. The Taoiseach, my cabinet colleagues and I take every opportunity to engage with EU partners to advance Ireland’s priorities in the Article 50 process. I, as well as officials from my Department, remain in ongoing contact with representatives from EU Member States, the Commission and Task Force, and the UK. 

I discuss Brexit collectively with my EU27 counterparts on a regular basis at the General Affairs Council (Article 50), where I take every opportunity to speak informally with them. I also regularly meet with my counterparts from other EU Member States, most recently the German Foreign Minister. In December I met with my Polish counterpart and I made clear to him the Irish and the European Council’s position that the backstop cannot be a time-limited solution but that it, if triggered, it would be temporary unless and until it is superseded by a better solution. 

In all of these contacts, I am struck by the continued solidarity and unity of our EU partners with Ireland on the issue of the backstop, and I am grateful for their continued public and private expressions of support.   

I met separately with Michel Barnier during the GAC (Article 50) meetings of 15 October and 12 November, and most recently on 21 January in the margins of the Foreign Affairs Council. Mr Barnier reaffirmed his commitment to the backstop provisions contained in the Withdrawal Agreement, which is the only agreement on the table that provides the essential legal guarantee to avoid a hard border in any circumstances and protect the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts. The EU continues to take a united approach and I thanked Mr Barnier for his unwavering support for Ireland. The EU stands ready to work further on the Political Declaration as we look to the future relationship. 

The negotiations have been long and difficult, with flexibility and compromise shown on both sides. The European Council in December and the joint letter from Presidents Tusk and Juncker have provided important reassurances with regard to the backstop. They have also made clear that the Withdrawal Agreement cannot be renegotiated and that the European Union will not agree to anything that changes or is inconsistent with it.