Darragh O'Brien
Question:23. Deputy Darragh O'Brien asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his Department's plans in preparation for Article 50 being triggered; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36374/16]
View answerWednesday, 23 November 2016
Questions (23)
Oral answers (6 contributions)
While Fianna Fáil and all parties here fully respect the result of the British referendum, we are deeply concerned about the negative impact of Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union and the effect that will have on the entire island of Ireland economically, politically and socially. With that in mind, I ask the Minister to outline his Department’s plans in preparation for Article 50 being submitted and triggered, and to comment on his view of the level of preparedness within the Government.
Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union provides the legal framework for withdrawal by a member state. The British Prime Minister, Mrs. May, has said that she intends to trigger Article 50 not later than the end of March next year. An agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom on British withdrawal has to be concluded within two years. Further negotiations on a future UK-EU relationship are going to be particularly complex and multifaceted and may well last considerably longer. I should be clear that in preparing for Ireland’s participation in future negotiations, the Government’s priorities remain the same, namely, to protect the interests of our citizens, with particular regard to Northern Ireland and the peace process, the common travel area, North-South and British-Irish trade and co-operation and our economy. It is also essential that we contribute positively to the debate on the future of the European Union itself.
Given the cross-cutting nature of the EU-UK dossier, a number of divisions within my Department are devoting a considerable share of their resources to the key issues involved. They include the EU division, the Ireland, United Kingdom and Americas division, the legal division and the trade division. The overall departmental effort is led and co-ordinated by the Secretary General and by the Department’s management board, a sub-committee of which meets on a weekly basis.
With respect to the Article 50 negotiations, the EU division of the Department, which was re-established further to a Government decision in July, is leading preparations within the framework of the whole-of-government approach to Brexit, which is led by the Department of the Taoiseach and to which I referred in response to a previous question from Deputy Crowe.
Now that we have the beginnings of a concrete timeline for Article 50, our work on analysing the implications of a UK exit from the European Union, which began over two years ago, and on preparing for the Article 50 negotiations has intensified. There is daily contact with the Department of the Taoiseach and there is also close engagement with other Departments, many of which have established Brexit teams. In addition, there is also daily contact with our permanent representation in Brussels.
I thank the Minister for that rather vague outline of the level of preparedness within the Government. I tabled a series of parliamentary questions that deal with the facts, the answers to which I have received. The Minister mentioned that the Department of the Taoiseach is leading the approach on Brexit. In reply to a parliamentary question I tabled I was pretty stunned to hear the Cabinet committee on Brexit established under the Taoiseach has only met three times on 8 September, 19 October and 7 November and is due to meet again tomorrow.
Does the Minister believe the fact that it took the committee three months after the referendum result to actually meet shows any degree of urgency or priority? I am reminded of the phrase "fail to prepare, prepare to fail" because that is where we are right now. This is why we in Fianna Fáil firmly believe in the need for a Minister for Brexit to co-ordinate what is happening across Departments. For this committee to have met only three times since the referendum result does not give me any great confidence that this Government is prepared for the potential risks and, in some cases, the potential opportunities of Brexit for this country.
On the contrary, rather than my reply being vague, there is an unprecedented amount of detailed planning across a range of Departments on the matter of the Brexit challenge. It is natural that the Taoiseach, who leads the overall Government response, should be the lead figure. He has chaired all three meetings of the new Cabinet committee on Brexit, which will meet again at 9 a.m. tomorrow. I have a particular role with reference to Northern Ireland and relations with our EU partners which is also complemented by the Minister of State, Deputy Dara Murphy. There have been actions on our part also, such as reinforcing our embassies in London, Paris and Berlin as well as our permanent representation to the EU in Brussels.
We discussed the matter of a Minister for Brexit previously. Not only would a separate Minister for Brexit be completely unnecessary, the creation of such a post would, as we see from the UK experience, cause significant administrative disruption at a time when we need to be focused on substance. I welcome the support from Deputy Darragh O'Brien and his party on this issue.
This is an important issue for our country, North and South, so the Minister will have whatever support we can give but the Government must show leadership in this regard. I put it to the Minister that three meetings of the Cabinet committee on Brexit, which is the all-powerful Brexit committee, since the referendum result is outrageous. It does not show any degree of priority or urgency.
I found the all-Ireland meeting in the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham most beneficial. It involved hearing views from across all sectors of our society, North and South, but I would like to see a plan emanating from that. Could the Minister outline the next steps? I thought the forum was a most useful event and I welcomed it on the day. I commend the Minister for that. However, I still have genuine concerns. I look forward to continuing to engage with the Minister and his Department. I tabled a series of questions across all Departments. The average number of meetings held by Brexit committees within the Departments is about two. That is not sufficient.
It is appropriate for me to repeat that there is daily contact among senior officials across a range of Departments with the Department of the Taoiseach as the lead Department, and close engagement with other Departments. Many Departments have already established dedicated Brexit teams to deal with this issue. I am happy to brief the Deputy at any stage on our progress and engagement.
I welcome his comments about the all-island civic dialogue. It was a most successful day. I also welcome the contribution of his party and his party leader in particular. It is one of a series of engagements. Having evaluated many of the issues raised, we are now into sectoral mode and there will be a number of sectoral meetings, particularly in Border areas. I hope we will have a level of engagement with civil society up and down the country in a listening exercise but also demonstrating the type of leadership we have seen from the Taoiseach on this issue since the vote on 23 June.