One of the critical judgments to be made of the Taoiseach's Government is on how badly Ireland will be impacted by Brexit. It is clear that Brexit risks doing incalculable damage to our country. Everybody in this House knows it. We have discussed it in and out. Tens of thousands of jobs are at risk, as is social cohesion on both sides of the Border. For those of us who have had the opportunity to talk to both sides of the community in Northern Ireland in recent days, it is clear that they feel unrepresented and vulnerable in this entire process. Events are moving quickly. The EU is preparing a new position paper on the Irish Border question. We are told it will be a compromise on the initial paper, but which of our interests are being compromised? The backstop on the Border is now presented as the largest barrier to the UK's exit deal. Before the summer I asked the Taoiseach to resolve Ireland's Brexit concerns at the special September EU summit being hosted this week by the Austrian Chancellor. I understand that the backstop is on the agenda for the so-called working lunch of the EU 27. The backstop, however, does not represent the sum of all of Ireland's interests. The whole point of seeking a separate Ireland protocol in advance was to shield our wider interests, such as east-west trade, from the kind of brinkmanship and 11th hour negotiations we now see occurring. Regardless of the result of the EU-UK negotiations, including the potential for no deal, we need to resolve Ireland's interests before the pressure comes upon us to compromise further, which could now happen at a special meeting of EU Heads of Government as late as November next.

We need to secure a legally binding agreement on the common travel area. We need to ensure that what we enjoy now will continue to exist and will not be weakened or diluted over time. We are told by all sides that there is a political will to maintain the common travel area, but the Taoiseach knows that only exists by way of a so-called gentleman's agreement. The political environment created by a hard, messy Brexit would provide little guarantee that Irish passport holders could still work and reside in the UK, use the NHS and avail of all the other benefits they now enjoy. Brexit could disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of Irish people living in the UK. We need the EU to open up the space for a bilateral British-Irish agreement on this issue, the common travel area, which is in our interests.

This is the only concern which is historically ours and the UK's alone. It does not impinge on the wider EU. Will the Government seek the consent of our EU partners for such an agreement to be negotiated as a matter of urgency? Has the Taoiseach given consideration to setting out our understanding of the full implications of the common travel area in draft legislation here?

The Deputy can be assured that Brexit is very much at the top of the Government's agenda. We had a detailed discussion on Brexit contingency planning and Brexit planning at our Cabinet meeting this morning. As the Deputy served well and successfully in government for a period, he knows that if it was as simple as turning up at an EU summit to sort it all out, I would have done that a long time ago. What is required here is an agreement. That requires a negotiation and both parties, the EU on the one side, including Ireland, and the UK on the other, to come to an agreement.

The Salzburg Summit is an informal meeting of the EU Heads of State and Government. Accordingly, no decisions will be made at that. However, we will use the summit as an opportunity to discuss Brexit. We will meet in Article 50 format. The UK Prime Minister, Theresa May, will give a presentation. She will then leave the room while the other 27 will discuss our approach. I do not anticipate there will be any change to the EU's position or to our negotiating guidelines.

While I do not want to give a running commentary of the negotiations, as it would not be in Ireland's interests, some of what the Deputy has read in the British newspapers, particularly the British-owned newspapers, are very far off the mark when it comes to the reality of what is going on in these negotiations.

The draft withdrawal agreement provides for what we need, namely, protection of the common travel area, a transition period to allow business and others to adjust to any permanent changes in trade which may take place, guarantees on citizens' rights, particularly for people in Northern Ireland, and also the backstop. This insurance policy of the backstop, which we hope to never have to use, guarantees us that there will be no hard border on the island of Ireland. These remain our objectives and that is what we will negotiate towards.

On the common travel area, it is specifically stated in the withdrawal agreement that it will stay in place and that it will be a bilateral matter between Britain and Ireland. It will continue to allow our citizens to live, study, work, as well as access healthcare, housing, education, in each other's countries as though we are citizens of both. That arrangement has been in place for a long time. Both the UK Government and the Irish Government want that to stay in place. That forms part of the withdrawal agreement.

Time is running out or to use the phrase of Michel Barnier, "the clock is ticking". We had hoped to have the Irish issues settled, separate from the withdrawal agreement, in June. Then it was October. Now it is to be November.

The Taoiseach referred to some of the English newspapers. Bloomberg reported today that the EU will make support for Ireland's Brexit position conditional on Ireland dropping opposition to corporate tax reform. Bloomberg also quoted an alleged European Commission official saying that solidarity does not come for free.

This is the sort of brinksmanship and last-minute concern that people would have if the Irish matters are not settled well in advance of the final withdrawal agreement being negotiated at the last hour.

There is much briefing going on.

They are listening at the doors.

The Taoiseach would recognise that.

Whatever people may say about me and the Government, I can guarantee the Deputy it is not coming from Government Buildings or from the European Commission.

What does the Taoiseach make of it?

Is it the Taoiseach's alter ego on Twitter?

Not that long ago I read in one newspaper that the French President, Emmanuel Macron, was so impressed by the meeting he had with the British Prime Minister in the Riviera that he changed his position and France would suddenly do a deal with the UK. I read another story several days later saying much the same about Germany. I am forever reading this stuff. I can absolutely guarantee the Deputy that EU solidarity behind Ireland, the 27 member states supporting us as a country that is staying in the European Union, is absolutely solid.