Written answers

Thursday, 14 July 2022

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Brexit Issues

Photo of Ruairi Ó MurchúRuairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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413. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the details of the Government’s international engagement on the Irish protocol particularly with the European Union, the United States and Britain; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39178/22]

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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As has been the case throughout the Brexit process, the Taoiseach and Ministers continue our intensive engagement with our counterparts from other Member States, the EU institutions, and globally in support of our Brexit priorities. This outreach is supplemented by our Embassies abroad and by senior officials across the civil service. Solidarity with Ireland’s position and support for the Commission’s approach and for minimising disruption in Northern Ireland remains steadfast among our EU partners.

The Taoiseach spoke with Prime Minister Johnson on 10 May and engaged with representatives of the UK Government, the NI Executive, Scotland, Wales, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, and Jersey at the British-Irish Council Summit meeting in Guernsey on 8 July. He is in ongoing contact with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Council President Charles Michel, and met with Commission Vice-President Šefcovic on 7 June.

I spoke on 13 June with European Commission Vice-President Šefcovic about the UK Government’s publication of draft legislation on the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland. I speak regularly with my EU counterparts including during my recent visits to Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Spain and Sweden, as well as in the margins of EU meetings such as the Foreign Affairs Council, and meetings in other international forums. On 3 July, in a joint article in the UK’s Observer newspaper with German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, we made clear our concerns about the UK’s unilateral approach on the Protocol and set out a way forward based on partnership and vision.

Minister of State Byrne also avails of the opportunities of meetings with his counterparts at the General Affairs Council and in capitals to reiterate our position and to thank them for their ongoing support.

I am also in ongoing contact with my counterparts in the British Government, as well as with stakeholders in Northern Ireland. I spoke by phone to UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on 13 June and expressed my deep disappointment at the UK’s proposed illegal actions. Far from fixing the challenges arising from the Northern Ireland Protocol, the UK’s Northern Ireland Protocol Bill will create a whole new set of uncertainties and damage relationships within Northern Ireland, across our islands, between our governments, and between the UK and the EU and its Member States. I spoke by phone to the new Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Shailesh Vara on 7 July and met with him in London on 11 July.

The Government remains in regular contact with the US administration. I travelled to Washington D.C. at the end of April where I discussed the Protocol with senior members of the Biden administration, including National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. Minister of State Byrne travelled to the US for a series of engagements in June. I have welcomed a number of US Congressional Delegations to Ireland in recent months, including a bipartisan Congressional Delegation which visited Dublin and Kerry in May. We are grateful for continued bipartisan US support for peace and stability in NI throughout the Brexit process, and we will continue to ensure that the Irish perspective is understood through continued high-level contact, as well as through ongoing engagement by our Embassy in Washington, D.C.

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