Coverage of the budget and related events will probably have overshadowed the very significant speech by Mr. Michel Barnier on the withdrawal treaty and the progress achieved in that regard. I understand from his speech, as covered in a RTÉ report this morning, that some 85% of the agreement between the United Kingdom and European Union has been agreed. The remaining 15% applies directly to Ireland and to how goods are imported and exported east to west and north to south. The progress is welcome. I commend all the Irish officials who have been involved.

In this House, we agree that a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland is absolutely unacceptable for political, human and economic reasons. Mr. Michel Barnier stated yesterday:

The UK wants to and will leave the Single Market and the Customs Union.

This means that there must be checks on goods travelling between the EU and the UK – checks that do not exist today:

- customs and VAT checks;

- and compliance checks with our standards to protect our consumers, our economic traders and your businesses.

We have agreed with the UK that these checks cannot be performed at the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.

It looks like this will be a unique set of circumstances, if agreed by all EU members and, of course, the Parliament in Westminster. Again, this is good news but the mechanisms now have to be worked out.

I am concerned about the response from the DUP. In particular, it is latching on to old arguments and, unfortunately, old language by mentioning "blood-red lines", saying it will not be treated differently than others in the United Kingdom. This is highly politically charged and unnecessary language. It does not represent the views of the majority in Northern Ireland, who just want to get on with their lives and with doing business and creating and retaining jobs.

Has the Tánaiste any plans to meet the DUP to discuss its concerns over and approach to these issues and to reflect his concerns and the Government's input regarding these views? Is he concerned about the DUP position threatening a budget in the United Kingdom and how that position might affect the UK Government's approach to the last stages of these talks? Could he confirm that the reports on RTÉ this morning reflect the current status of the negotiations? What is his view on there being a conclusion to those negotiations next week?

The Deputy asked a lot of questions - a lot of good questions. I caution against people taking their lead in respect of these negotiations from media reports today. There have been intensive efforts this week by both negotiating teams to try to find a way forward. As Mr. Michel Barnier said yesterday, the vast majority of the text of the withdrawal treaty has been agreed. That is not new; we have known that for a while. The last 10% to 15% is difficult. Most of it involves Ireland. There are some other issues also. The intensification of discussions this week is primarily about trying to find a way forward to follow through on the commitments that have already been made in these negotiations, including last December and last March, to have a legally operable text that follows through on last December's commitment to an Irish backstop, which provides the guarantee that there will be no border infrastructure on this island in the future. The British and EU approaches to that have been somewhat different. The two negotiating teams are trying to find a way such that the European Union can be sure it protects the integrity of its Single Market and customs union in the future. The United Kingdom obviously wants to try to protect the integrity of the United Kingdom economically and reassure unionists, in particular, that there will be no significant new barriers to trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. There is a difficult political job for the negotiators. We need to give them the time and space to do it. I expect we will get a report on Monday to what is called COREPER in Brussels. We will have a General Affairs Council meeting. I will be meeting Mr. Michel Barnier on Tuesday morning, at which meeting we will get an in-depth readout of where the negotiations have gone over the past week or ten days. We are obviously speaking to the task force on a daily basis and getting briefings from it.

There is much focus and media attention on this issue because so much is at stake. We should, however, rely on the accounts that come from the task force and the British negotiating team directly rather than on rumours and reports that may or may not be based on fact. We are at a very delicate stage in these negotiations at which we need to find agreement, and time is running out. I am optimistic that an agreement can be reached. To my knowledge, the two negotiating teams do not yet have an agreed position on the Irish backstop, but the work continues.

I thank the Tánaiste for his response. That uncertainty makes it all the more important to engage the DUP. That was the core of my question. Has the Tánaiste plans to meet the DUP to reflect his proposals to it directly given that Mrs. Foster has met Mr. Barnier? She has obviously got the relationship she has with the UK Government. Do we intend to communicate the Irish Government's position to the DUP?

By contrast with all the media reports, Mr. Barnier's speech is quite detailed. I refer to the European Parliament speech and the subsequent statement, which outlines specific roles for Dublin Port in all this. Is the Tánaiste confident that, if agreement is reached, he will have the proper resources and facilities in place at the port and that nothing will be added to the burden or cost of business because of the extra responsibilities there? Is there proper investment not only at Dublin Port but also at all our ports to deal with this new environment? What are the Tánaiste's plans to meet the DUP?

We are engaged in ongoing communication with the DUP. Sometimes it involves direct meetings, sometimes back channels, and sometimes officials talking to one another. I have always said, however, that we talk to and consult all parties in Northern Ireland, not just one. We need to listen to all their concerns. The DUP is a very important voice in Northern Ireland but it does not represent a majority there. While the DUP has a special relationship with the British Government in the form of a confidence and supply agreement, which makes the relationship a close one, I hope we have a relationship with all political parties in Northern Ireland that allows us to meet them and listen to their concerns. Later today, the Taoiseach and I are meeting a series of parties in Northern Ireland here in Leinster House.

The answer to the Deputy's question is that the DUP does understand the Irish Government's position, as I hope do all the other parties in Northern Ireland. What we are looking for is an outcome that everybody can live with, protects the status quo as much as possible and does not interrupt in any major way trade between Northern Ireland and Britain but at the same time honours the commitment on guarantees to have no physical border infrastructure on the island of Ireland.

Any issues relating to contingency planning linked to Dublin Port, Rosslare Europort, Dublin Airport or other airports may involve businesses having to alter their normal export or import patterns. That is why we are holding big meetings with businesses on getting Brexit-ready. There will be one in Galway tomorrow, weather permitting, and we were in Cork last Friday. We want to ensure that businesses understand the potential consequences of Brexit and that they prepare and invest accordingly.