Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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276. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the extent to which he remains in constant engagement with the UK authorities and both communities in Northern Ireland with a view to ensuring that logistical and political difficulties caused by Brexit are not allowed to undermine the Good Friday Agreement or the Northern Ireland Protocol; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34206/21]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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277. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the extent to which he can continue to liaise with both communities in Northern Ireland and the British Government with a view to ensuring that Brexit-related issues are not allowed to damage the peace agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34207/21]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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278. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the extent to which he continues to engage with the British Government with a view to ensuring that Brexit-caused difficulties are not allowed to undermine the Good Friday Agreement or the Northern Ireland Protocol; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34208/21]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 276 to 278, inclusive, together.

The Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland was negotiated and agreed by the EU and the UK to address the complex set of challenges presented by Brexit on the island of Ireland. An integral part of the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement, the Protocol is the agreed way to safeguard the Good Friday Agreement, to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland, and to protect the integrity of the Single Market and Ireland’s place within it. 

I am in regular and ongoing contact with British government counterparts and with political leaders and other stakeholders in Northern Ireland on implementation of the Protocol. We all have a responsibility to listen to the genuine concerns and engage with citizens, businesses, politicians and community leaders in the North. We also have to be clear there is no agreed alternative to the problems caused by Brexit on the island of Ireland besides the Protocol – a solution which was jointly negotiated, jointly agreed and which now needs to be jointly implemented. 

It is important to reiterate that the Protocol makes no change to the constitutional status of Northern Ireland as set down in the Good Friday Agreement. The Protocol prevents a hard border on this island and protect the gains of the Good Friday Agreement.

Throughout these engagements, I have continued to make clear that our shared goal must be full implementation of the Protocol to minimise the disruption caused by Brexit in Northern Ireland. I have welcomed the ongoing engagement between the EU and the UK on outstanding issues and stressed the need for these outstanding issues to be dealt with by the UK and the EU working together, in partnership.  

I also continue to listen carefully to the genuine concerns that are there and will continue to advocate for appropriate flexibilities with regard to implementation within the framework of the Protocol, so that the negative impact of Brexit on the people of Northern Ireland is minimised. This has always been the aim of the Protocol: to minimise the disruption which Brexit was inevitably going to cause for Northern Ireland. 

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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279. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the extent to which he can find it possible to foster improved Ireland-UK relations through the medium of the isolation and resolution of Brexit-related issues within the context of the EU-UK agreement and protocols; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34209/21]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Following the UK’s departure from the European Union and the end of the Transition period, we are working closely with our EU partners to support the development of the EU-UK relationship and full implementation of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) and Withdrawal Agreement.  At the same time, we are working to strengthen British-Irish relations insofar as possible, given the depth and importance of our relationship, in terms of our people, our prosperity and peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland.   

Ireland, as part of the EU, will play its full part in realising the potential of the TCA and the Withdrawal Agreement – including the Withdrawal Agreement’s Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland. The effective and full implementation of the agreements is a priority for Ireland and the EU. The TCA allows cooperation with the UK to continue in a range of key areas, establishing a substantial framework for continued engagement. While it does not replicate the status quo ante, it does provide for tariff and quota free trade for qualifying goods between our respective markets – ensuring that Ireland and the UK will remain strongly connected as trade partners.

The full implementation of the Protocol, which forms part of an EU-UK agreement, is important to Ireland in terms of our core objectives in relation to minimising the negative impact of Brexit on the island of Ireland, including safeguarding the Good Friday Agreement, avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland, and protecting the Single Market, and Ireland’s place in it.

Our shared goal must be the full implementation of the Protocol to minimise the disruption caused by Brexit in Northern Ireland. Achieving the smooth and sustainable operation of the Protocol will also contribute significantly to improved EU-UK relations. Ireland will do all it can as an EU member state in support of that goal. 

In this context, and while taking full account of developments in EU-UK relations and the areas where EU legal competence applies, we continue our bilateral engagement, including through the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement; and by investing in our capacity and relationships right across the UK. The British Irish Council Summit on 11 June and the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference taking place today are important in this regard, as was the Taoiseach’s meeting with the UK Prime Minister in May and my own visits to London in April and June.  In terms of ongoing investment, we agreed new bilateral frameworks for cooperation with the devolved administrations in Cardiff and Edinburgh earlier this year.  Additionally, I look forward to officially opening our new Consulate General in Manchester and our re-established Consulate General in Cardiff in the coming months. 

I remain ambitious for the British-Irish bilateral relationship - and the full implementation of the TCA and the Withdrawal Agreement will provide the best possible basis for the growth and development of that relationship into the future.