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Ministerial Meetings

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 8 May 2019

Wednesday, 8 May 2019

Questions (1156)

Mattie McGrath

Question:

1156. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the meetings he has had with the UK Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs since 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18847/19]

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Written answers

I had my first meeting with Secretary of State Andrea Leadsom in London in December 2016 and followed this up with a further meeting in Berlin in January 2017.

I met her successor, Michael Gove, in London on 13 June 2018, having previously met with him on 15 March 2018 during my St Patrick’s Day visit to London. I stressed to the Secretary of State the mutual benefit of bilateral trade in agri-food and fisheries and the importance of an agreement which allows such trade to continue as seamlessly as possible without undermining the integrity of the single market. I also stressed the need to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland, and to secure arrangements to give effect to this imperative which would provide certainty that in any circumstances, and no matter what the outcome of the negotiations on the EU-UK future relationship, a hard border would be avoided.

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