Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 February 2017
330. Deputy John Lahart asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if discussions have taken place with the British administration regarding the status of Irish citizens living in the UK post-Brexit. [5342/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra345. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if any correspondence regarding the status of Irish citizens living in the UK post-Brexit has been received, requested or is taking place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5871/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 330 and 345 together.
It is the firm objective of the Government that Irish citizens will be able to continue to live and work freely in the United Kingdom following the UK’s exit from the EU. Since the referendum in June, my Ministerial colleagues and I have discussed the status of Irish citizens on numerous occasions with our UK counterparts. Most recently, my colleague, the Minister for Social Protection, visited London last week and met with the UK Secretary of State for Work and Pensions as well as with Irish community groups.
A key factor in achieving this objective will be the continuation of the Common Travel Area (CTA) arrangements between Ireland and the UK. At their meeting in Dublin last week, at which I participated, the Taoiseach and Prime Minister May reaffirmed their joint commitment to maintaining the CTA and to continuing the two Governments’ work in this regard.
For her part, Prime Minister May has listed the CTA as one of her priorities for the exit process. On 2 February the UK Government published its White Paper on Brexit, in which the special status afforded to Irish citizens in the UK in the Ireland Act 1949 was noted, as was the mutual desire of the UK and Irish Governments to protect the reciprocal treatment of each other’s citizens.
In the particular case of the CTA, and as with other specific-Irish related issues, it is clearly important that we secure the understanding and support of the EU institutions and Member States regarding this long-standing and important bilateral arrangement. Accordingly, the Government continues to engage very actively at both the political and official/diplomatic levels in setting out our key priorities to various EU interlocutors. As part of this work, I had a very positive meeting yesterday with my new Italian colleague, Foreign Minister Alfano, and will be visiting both Brussels and Helsinki later this week.
It is important and welcome that Ireland’s concerns have been explicitly and publicly recognised by the chief negotiators of both the Commission and the European Parliament, Michel Barnier and Guy Verhofstadt respectively.
Therefore, while formal negotiations have not yet begun, and as we await the triggering of the Article 50 of the Treaty on the European Union by the United Kingdom, important groundwork has been done with both the UK government and with our EU partners.
In tandem with these efforts, the Government, my Department, and our diplomatic missions in the UK will continue their close contact with the Irish community as the exit process continues. Since before the referendum, the Government has been engaging closely with the Irish community about practical issues which might arise from the UK’s decision to leave the EU. On 19 and 20 January Minister of State McHugh visited London where he had a series of engagements with representatives and members of the Irish community there, and I will also meet with them during my next visit. The Irish Embassy in London and our Consulate in Edinburgh continue to provide support to the Irish community in a variety of ways, including through the Government’s Emigrant Support Programme.
