Written Answers Nos. 56-66
56. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the action the Government is taking at European level to assist with bringing about a resolution regarding the Israeli and Palestine conflict, in view of recent comments by the US President, Mr. Trump. [8708/17]
View answerNotwithstanding other concurrent crises in the Middle East region, the resolution of the Israeli and Palestinian conflict remains a priority for the Government and for the European Union, and one on which I have devoted a lot of time at EU level and in visits to the region. Already this year, the issue has been discussed at both the January and February meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council, and is expected to be on the agenda again in March. The background is a very troubling one of stagnation in the political process and worsening developments on the ground, but our efforts continue.
Some remarks and suggestions by President Trump in relation to these issues have been widely publicised and may be unhelpful, but the policy of his administration remains to emerge. The advent of any new US Administration tends to introduce a period of uncertainty in relation to the Middle East Peace Process.
For our part, Ireland and our EU colleagues remain fully committed to a two state solution to the conflict, as the only option which can meet the needs of both sides, however difficult it may be to achieve. This is also the overwhelming view of the international community, as expressed in the declaration of the Paris Conference which I attended in January. The EU will continue to espouse and advance this approach, including in discussions with the United States.
57. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on the trend of some EU countries applying conditions to development aid and countries using their development aid budgets for border protection. [8693/17]
View answerIn the context of the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030, and the unprecedented level of humanitarian need globally, there is recognition internationally of the need for comprehensive policy approaches linking conflict, peace and security and development. Increasing volumes of aid are being allocated to respond to conflicts and crises and in support of addressing their root causes. The EU and member States are responding to the refugee and migration crisis through new instruments, notably the Facility for Refugees in Turkey and the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa. Ireland is committed to contributing some €23 million between 2016 and 2019 to the Facility for Refugees. It focuses on humanitarian assistance, migration management, education, health services and socio-economic support for refugees from the Syrian conflict. The migration management element covers work to ensure that the transportation, reception and hosting of migrants returned from Greece to Turkey is carried out in a secure way in dignified conditions, and to avoid further humanitarian tragedies in the Aegean Sea.
Ireland is committed to contributing €3 million over five years, up to 2020, to the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa. We work to ensure that the Fund addresses the root causes of irregular migration and forced displacement, not least because it is financed overwhelmingly from the development and humanitarian budgets of the EU and member States.
I am committed to ensuring that Ireland’s aid programme will continue to focus on ending extreme poverty, hunger and under nutrition by 2030. Our aid will remain untied. The OECD Development Assistance Committee in its review of Ireland’s aid programme stated that it is particularly impressive that the fight to reduce poverty remains firmly at the core of Ireland’s aid programme.
60. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the extent to which Ireland's campaign continues to position it in the most advantageous situation possible post-Brexit in the context of having unimpeded access to existing markets including the UK, incorporating the concept of an all-Ireland market and the maintenance of the traditional common travel area thereby eliminating a customs border on the island of Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8700/17]
View answerIn addition to protecting the Northern Ireland Peace Process and maintaining the Common Travel Area, minimising the impact on trade and the economy is a key priority for the Government in the forthcoming Brexit negotiations. From our perspective this means, as the Taoiseach stated in his keynote speech last week, that the best possible outcome in the negotiations is “the closest possible economic and trading relationship between the EU and the UK”. The Government’s preparations for these negotiations have been extensive. But it is also critical that our priorities are heard and understood across Europe and are reflected in the EU’s position for the forthcoming negotiations. To that end, an extensive programme of engagement with all other EU Governments and the EU institutions, including the European Commission’s Brexit Negotiations Task Force, is under way. To date, there has been over 120 engagements at either political or senior official level. The Taoiseach is in regular contact with EU leaders and recently travelled to Madrid and Warsaw for meetings with his Spanish and Polish counterparts. [He will travel to Brussels later this week, where he will have a meeting with the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker.]
For my own part, I spoke with each of my EU Foreign Minister counterparts in the period immediately following the referendum in the UK. I then undertook a second round of discussions with my EU colleagues which most recently has included bilateral meetings with the Italian, Spanish and Finnish Foreign Ministers. [Today, I welcomed the French Foreign Minister to Dublin for discussions, and plans are advancing for a visit by my Luxembourg counterpart at the beginning of March.] Engagement with the European Commission’s Task Force on Brexit and the Commission’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, has also been a central part of the Government’s programme of engagement. The Government’s position on Brexit was outlined in meetings with Mr. Barnier in Dublin on 12 October. During a recent visit to Brussels (9 February) I met with Mr Barnier and had an excellent exchange with him about preparations for the negotiations phase. Engagement with the Commission’s Task Force at a technical level has been regular and is ongoing. There have been a number of exchanges on key aspects of the negotiations process and the Irish-specific aspects, including on the Common Travel Area and on border issues.
In the same vein, Minister of State Murphy also remains actively engaged; visiting Romania and Greece on 30 January to 1 February and this week he travels to Bratislava, Vienna and Budapest. In addition, meetings at senior official level took place with Latvia, Lithuania and Belgium most recently, and engagements are scheduled with France, Poland and Slovakia in the coming weeks.
Feedback to date from this comprehensive engagement has been very encouraging. There is as sound understanding among EU partners of our priority issues and a strong willingness and openness to work closely with Ireland on addressing them.
When the negotiations start, we, together with our EU partners, will face the UK across the negotiating table and will strive for a deal that everyone can accept but more importantly that protects Ireland’s fundamental interests. There will be a need for the British Government to also factor into their negotiating position with the European Union their objectives in relation to the maintenance of the open border and the protection of the gains of the peace process in Northern Ireland, as underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement. The Taoiseach discussed this imperative with Prime Minister May at their meeting on 30 January and I reinforced this message in my meeting with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland James Brokenshire in our meeting on 14 February.
The Government will continue to engage with all of our EU partners in pursuit of each of our four headline priorities, to protect the fundamental interests of our people and our economy.
63. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will report on the North-South Ministerial Council and its role in scoping out the implications of Brexit; and if this will be the sole vehicle for discussing joint principles. [8772/17]
View answerGood progress has been made through the North South Ministerial Council (NSMC) on scoping out the sectorial implications of Brexit for Ireland, North and South, and in agreeing joint principles for moving forward. In the aftermath of the referendum in the United Kingdom on 23 June 2016, there was a Plenary meeting of the North South Ministerial Council on 4 July 2016 in Dublin Castle. At that meeting the Government and the Northern Ireland Executive agreed to work closely together to optimise North South planning in the phases preceding and following the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union. It was also agreed that full sectorial audits would be carried out by Departments North and South to identify the possible impacts, risks, opportunities and contingencies which may arise following the UK’s withdrawal. At the subsequent NSMC Plenary meeting on 18 November 2016 in Armagh the Government and the Northern Ireland Executive agreed on a number of important common principles for dealing with Brexit on an all-island basis.
It was also agreed that this work would be taken forward through continuing bilateral discussions within the NSMC at sectorial level, as well as through a high-level working group comprising senior officials from the Government and from the Northern Ireland Executive Office.
The Government remains engaged with the political parties in Northern Ireland and I would hope that the new Northern Ireland Executive will be in place soon after the Assembly election on 2 March and that dates for the next NSMC Plenary meeting will be agreed as soon as possible thereafter.
The Executive is responsible for politically representing Northern Ireland’s interests, including in relation to the upcoming EU-UK negotiations. With those negotiations expected to begin shortly, it is essential that Ministerial engagement through the NSMC recommences at the earliest possible opportunity.
While the common principles for dealing with Brexit on an all-island basis have been agreed by the North South Ministerial Council it is one of a number of fora, alongside the British Irish Council and the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly, within which it is possible to discuss with our colleagues from Northern Ireland the implications of Brexit. In addition, the issue has been discussed and will continue to be discussed in bilateral contacts with the Northern Ireland Executive and political parties, as well as in the range of inter-governmental contacts between Dublin and London.
It is the Government’s intention to maintain those close contacts in the period ahead using all appropriate channels both formal and informal.
64. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide an update on his meetings and work with Mr. Michel Barnier regarding Brexit. [8356/17]
View answerI most recently met with the Head of the European Commission’s Brexit Taskforce, Michel Barnier, in Brussels on 9 February. This meeting formed part of the Government’s continued programme of extensive engagement with EU partners to emphasise Ireland’s unique set of priorities with regard to Brexit and the many complex issues relating to Northern Ireland, the Common Travel Area and the depth of our trade relationship with the UK. Ireland’s engagement with Mr Barnier and his taskforce at political and official level has been and continues to be very constructive. Dublin was one of the first capitals visited by Mr Barnier in his Brexit role and during his visit on 12 October last, in addition to my own bilateral meeting with him, he had very positive discussions with the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister of State for European Affairs. Our meeting on 9 February provided an opportunity to take stock of Ireland’s regular and ongoing engagement with Mr Barnier’s team on key aspects of the negotiations process and the Irish-specific aspects, including the Common Travel Area and on border issues. I also welcomed the fact that Mr Barnier has highlighted the need to address Ireland’s specific concerns as a priority in the upcoming negotiations.
I shared the Government’s perspective on recent developments, including Prime Minister May’s speech and the recent British Government White Paper. In this respect, I reiterated that we share the UK’s objective of maintaining the Common Travel Area as it now stands. I also welcomed the UK’s objective of achieving as close and frictionless a trade relationship as possible with the EU after it departs.
I emphasised the Government’s commitment to maintaining this close engagement with Mr Barnier and his taskforce and that we will continue to work closely with the Commission team at political and official level as we address the particular challenges ahead.
65. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on arts, Irish and the Gaeltacht last met. [8529/17]
View answerThe Cabinet Committee on Arts, Irish, the Gaeltacht and the Islands last met on the 13th of October 2016. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday 27th February.
66. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Taoiseach the items he has sought to have included on the agenda of the next meeting of the European Council meeting of the EU Heads of State or Government. [8528/17]
View answerThe next European Council meeting will take place on the 9/10 March.
The draft agenda, published by the General Secretariat of the Council, envisages that the Maltese Presidency will provide an overview of progress on the implementation of earlier European Council conclusions, and that the European Council will then look at a number of the most pressing issues, including in relation to Jobs, Growth and Competitiveness; Security and Defence; Migration; and External Relations.
This draft agenda is in order from Ireland's perspective and I have therefore not sought any particular items for inclusion on it for this meeting.
