Richard Boyd Barrett
Question:1. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his meeting with the UK Prime Minister. [24047/20]
View answerTuesday, 22 September 2020
Questions (1, 2, 3)
Mary Lou McDonald
Question:2. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent meeting with the UK Prime Minister. [22608/20]
View answer
Alan Kelly
Question:3. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his meeting with the UK Prime Minister. [22379/20]
View answerOral answers (5 contributions)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 3, inclusive, together.
I met the United Kingdom Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, at Hillsborough Castle on 13 August. This was our first meeting since I became Taoiseach. We had a good discussion on Covid-19 and our respective experiences of managing the virus and dealing with its economic and societal impacts. We agreed that close contact on this topic should continue between our respective Administrations in the period ahead.
We also discussed Northern Ireland issues and noted the recent meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council in Dublin.
Finally, we discussed Brexit, including the continuing negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union as the transition period draws to a close. The Prime Minister assured me on that occasion that he was committed to implementation of the withdrawal agreement, including the protocol, and to reaching a deal with the European Union on the future relationship.
We also discussed the British-Irish relationship post Brexit and the need to create a new dynamic around that. Since then, of course, we have seen publication of the United Kingdom Government's draft Internal Market Bill, which would violate the withdrawal agreement.
I spoke with Prime Minister Johnson by phone on 9 September to set out in forthright terms my grave concerns about this development. I made the point that any unilateral attempt to undermine the withdrawal agreement and the protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland is completely unacceptable and risks seriously eroding and damaging political trust in Northern Ireland, in our bilateral relations and between the United Kingdom and the European Union. I stressed to the Prime Minister that the United Kingdom Government should re-engage with European Union negotiators urgently.
We must make clear to Boris Johnson that the peace and stability of this island comes ahead of his reckless, race-to-the-bottom agenda for Britain and for the particular business interests he represents. It is a recklessness that has again summoned up the spectre of a possible return to a hard border and breaks agreements, international treaties, protocols and so on that were designed to ensure there would be no possibility of a return to a hard border. We must make absolutely clear to Mr. Johnson and his gurus, such as Mr. Cummings, that despite all their manipulations and recklessness that is just not going to happen and we will do whatever is necessary to prevent a hard border. It summons up in a serious way the need to start talking about a possible border poll. It is also clear and important that we send a message to the European Union that if things go badly and we face the possibility of a hard Brexit as a result of Boris Johnson's recklessness, we will not be used as a political pawn in the battle between the European Union and Mr. Johnson. We will not accept any diktat from Europe about protecting its market if that means the resurrection of the possibility of a hard border. Peace and stability on this island is more important than Johnson's dangerous agenda and it is more important than any market.
In the course of this morning's COBRA meeting with the British Prime Minister my colleague, deputy First Minister, Michelle O'Neill, emphasised the ongoing need for an all-island approach to Covid-19. We have consistently raised this matter in respect of profiling the disease and projections but also in terms of testing and tracing. This approach is also important for cross-border communities and businesses that are particularly susceptible to sudden economic shocks.
As a result of the Covid-19 crisis but, more particularly, as a result of Brexit, these communities live daily with increased uncertainty. Certainly, the Tories' Internal Market Bill has served to deepen the anxieties felt by families and workers on both sides of the Border. This anxiety is not limited to these communities or even to the island of Ireland because support for the Good Friday Agreement has been widespread. There have been particularly important expressions of support from the United States Congress. It has made an important intervention by, again, definitively ruling out any prospect of a trade deal between the United States and Britain if the Good Friday Agreement is undermined in any way or if there is any prospect of a hardening of the Border on our island. I am sure we are very appreciative of that level of political and diplomatic support. The withdrawal agreement in an international agreement, as is the Good Friday Agreement. I put to the Taoiseach that it has never been more important than now that the Government in Dublin holds the British system and Government to account and keeps its feet to the fire.
Finally, we cannot countenance any hardening of the Border. There will be no hard border on our island. It is our job and, more particularly, the Taoiseach's job as Head of Government to make sure that is the case.
The Taoiseach met the Prime Minister in August and spoke with him by phone a fortnight ago. The Taoiseach obviously got no heads up on the Internal Market Bill, which we all know is reckless, and at least the former Prime Minister has come out and said the same. However, if the UK proceeds with the Bill, what will be the approach of Ireland and the EU? What is the Taoiseach's most up-to-date view on what our approach will be, should the UK proceed? If it proceeds, then it is on a pathway and we know what that pathway looks like. Obviously, it would be disaster. What is the latest consolidated view of Ireland and the EU in relation to what we will do, should Prime Minister Johnson do that?
What discussions have been held with him on co-ordinating our plan to fight Covid-19? Last night, the entire UK implemented new restrictions, moving to its version of level 4. I understand the Prime Minister will give a televised address tonight. There has been some discussion over there about a two-week circuit-breaker lockdown. That would obviously impact the North as well. That brings us to co-ordination of activities across the Border. If they go down that route, how will we react to it? What additional testing and tracing measures are being considered given the direction the UK is taking?
In response to Deputy Boyd Barrett's points, peace and stability come first regarding the overall impact of Brexit, and the necessity for the withdrawal treaty and the Northern Ireland protocol to be adhered to and upheld. The EU is solidly and constructively working with Ireland on this. We are part of the one negotiating team that wants to negotiate a future relationship with the UK that is sensible and that results in a free-trade agreement, which is absent of quotas and tariffs and allows businesses to continue as seamlessly as they can. Notwithstanding the impact of Brexit even with what might be called a free-trade-type agreement, nonetheless we want businesses to continue engaging, exporting, importing and avoiding a loss of jobs. That is a key objective.
A no-deal Brexit would be devastating for the economy and jobs in the UK. It would be very challenging to Ireland as well, particularly in the regions and on the western seaboard, and to other member states in the EU. Logic and common sense should dictate a sensible Brexit deal covering the future relationship between the Union and the United Kingdom.
The Internal Market Bill has undermined people's confidence in the capacity to achieve that. It has eroded trust and it has made it more difficult to proceed. That said, the EU is focused on the end goal and objective, remaining very firm on the necessity of the UK to make amends here and to deal with the issue of the Internal Market Bill, representing, as it does, an unacceptable breach of its international obligations.
Discussions have taken place at the joint committee between the UK and the European sides. I have had discussions on the issue with the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the Council, Charles Michel. I have spoken briefly with the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, in the context of a wider discussion with other member states on other issues where we raised Brexit. I will have a further opportunity this week to discuss it with European colleagues.
Europe will not be distracted or in any way blown off course by this latest initiative by the UK. It is very clear on how unacceptable it is and very clear that it breaches agreements previously entered into. Whatever the motivations behind the Bill, it will not succeed in creating any division on the EU side. European Union colleagues are very clear on the importance of the protocol and the importance of having no hard border, as is the UK Government, which still states it does not want a hard border on the island of Ireland and wants seamless trade between North and South. It has equally stated that it wants to implement the withdrawal agreement notwithstanding the reservations as contained in the Internal Market Bill. Of course, the Bill runs counter to those assertions. I am just giving it to the House as it is.
I do not think it is a question of a diktat from Europe. That is not the spirit of how Europe and Ireland have been working on Brexit from the beginning. A collegial approach has informed the engagement and relationship. Europe has been rock solid. It has shown commendable solidarity with Ireland throughout these issues since the British people voted on Brexit. It is our collective desire to ensure that continues. We will work with Europe in that regard.
On the all-island approach to Covid, there is a memorandum of understanding between the Chief Medical Officer in the Republic and the Chief Medical Officer in Northern Ireland. We have had ongoing contact with the First Minister and Deputy First Minister on Covid. Northern Ireland operates to a different jurisdiction from that in which the CMO does. We are endeavouring to harmonise insofar as we possibly can. Deputies will recall that earlier in the summer there were issues with travel where the Northern Ireland Executive was ahead of us in liberalising travel. I think there has been good engagement since then on a range of issues between both CMOs, which will continue.
The British system of testing and tracing is under pressure; we are not. Our testing and tracing system is meeting demand, with 85,000 tests done last week, comprising community testing, hospital testing and serial testing. There have been 13,000 or 14,000 serial tests in meat plants, direct provision centres and nursing homes all with very low levels of positive results so far from the serial testing.
I understand the Scottish authorities contacted us to see if we could help with spare capacity. We were just not in a position to do that. There is global competition for testing kits and the materials for it. Testing in the UK is obviously very challenging. So far, we are managing. We are ahead of them and we can meet demand as it presents itself right now. The HSE is continually looking at ways to improve capacity. We have capacity to do 100,000. Having the capacity to do 100,000 does not mean we have to do 100,000, but I have been assured by the HSE that it has the capacity to do 100,000; we did 85,000 last week