Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 January 2018
134. Deputy Stephen S. Donnelly asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will report on his meeting with Mr. Michel Barnier on 12 December 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54381/17]
View answerI met with the EU’s Chief Negotiator, Michel Barnier in advance of the General Affairs Council (Article 50) in Brussels on 12 December and took the opportunity to thank him and his team for their excellent work in securing a positive outcome for Ireland and for the EU27 as a whole during phase 1 of the EU-UK negotiations, as reflected in the joint progress report of 8 December.
During our meeting Mr Barnier confirmed that he was in a position to recommend to the European Council that sufficient progress had been reached on all of the phase one issues. I welcomed this news and expressed my hope that discussions on the framework for a future EU-UK relationship, and on transitional arrangements, would begin as soon as possible, as they are hugely important both for Ireland and for the EU as a whole.
We spoke in detail on the Irish specific issues and I thanked him for his continued support for Ireland and the unique challenges that we face in the context of Brexit. I welcomed the text of the joint progress report on Ireland and Northern Ireland as it reflects our goals of maintaining the Common Travel Area, protecting the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts, including North South cooperation and the rights enshrined in the Agreement, and protecting the gains of the peace process, most notably guarantees on avoiding a hard border. We agreed that there is clearly still a great deal of work remaining on the Irish specific issues to ensure that all the commitments set out in this report are implemented and to that end I welcomed that this work will continue to be taken forward in a distinct strand of the negotiations in phase two. Our Permanent Representation in Brussels, my officials and I will remain in regular contact with Mr Barnier and his Taskforce to ensure that Ireland’s interests continue to be advanced in the EU’s position as the negotiations move to phase two.
