Brendan Howlin
Question:102. Deputy Brendan Howlin asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the engagements between officials in his Department and sherpas in the governments of other EU member states on Brexit. [25624/17]
View answerWednesday, 31 May 2017
Questions (102)
Written answers
The Second Secretary General in the Department of the Taoiseach acts as Ireland's Sherpa and, in this capacity, meets and engages regularly with his EU counterparts.
Since the triggering of Article 50 on 29 March, there have been two formal Sherpa meetings under the Article 50 format - one on 11 April, and another on 24 April. Ireland participated fully in both of these. The discussions focused on the EU negotiating guidelines, which were subsequently agreed by the European Council on 29 April.