Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 26 September 2018
112. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the status of the backstop proposal for to Brexit following the recent European Council meeting; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39103/18]
View answerFollowing the informal European Council Summit in Salzburg on 20 September, the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, restated the EU’s position that there will be no Withdrawal Agreement without a solid, operational and legally-binding Irish backstop. EU Leaders at the Summit reaffirmed their full support for Michel Barnier in his negotiations, including his efforts to ‘de-dramatise’ the backstop. Subsequently, on 21 September Prime Minister May stated that the UK would bring forward its own proposals on the backstop. The Government welcomes this initiative, and would urge that this is done as a matter of urgency, so that the negotiating teams can engage constructively on finalising the legal text of the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland. The EU is of course willing to consider these proposals once tabled by the UK but has been clear that outcome must be fully consistent with the agreement reached in the Joint Progress Report of last December and the clear commitments and guarantees provided by the UK. The October European Council meeting on 18 October remains the target to achieve maximum progress and results in the negotiations. At that meeting, Ireland and our EU partners would then decide if conditions are sufficient to call an extraordinary summit in November to finalise and formalise the deal. Real progress on the backstop will be an essential part of that decision.
From the outset of these negotiations, the Government has been clear and consistent in our position that a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland must be avoided under any circumstances. A legally operable ‘backstop’ which avoids a hard border and protects the integrity of the single market is essential for agreeing the Withdrawal Agreement, so as to provide the certainty that no matter what the outcome of the negotiations on the future relationship, there will be no hard border on the island of Ireland.
Time is running short. As the Taoiseach said in Salzburg, we need to redouble our efforts over the coming weeks to make sure that we can successfully complete negotiations and agree a deal.
