The Minister is sitting beside the Tánaiste. He could have indicated that date in an aside.

On an issue for which the Tánaiste does have responsibility, on Tuesday in the Dáil, the Taoiseach said he would be looking to try to reassure the UK Government that the backstop and the accompanying customs arrangement would not trap them into that customs arrangement forever and a day and said they would be looking for some mechanism to avoid that. Can the Tánaiste confirm whether he believes that would be through any change to the withdrawal agreement, a codicil to it or in the political declaration in which the Irish Government, through the European negotiators, is looking to try to give that reassurance? Can he assure this House regarding from where that reassurance for the British Government may come?

The Government has made it clear, as the EU has, that the withdrawal agreement that was agreed by the British Government, along with all other EU governments, will not be reopened but, of course, we want to try to be helpful in clarifying the issues around the potential use of a backstop, which, after all, is an insurance mechanism that none of us wants to use. If it is to be used, we all want it to be temporary so that it can be replaced by something that is more permanent, which people may be more comfortable with. There was an effort to provide reassurance to the British Parliament with two quite comprehensive letters from President Tusk and President Juncker to reinforce those points a number of months ago and it did not seem to have much effect. Ultimately, the problem is in London and we have yet to have any detailed proposal on how the concerns of the parliament in Westminster can be responded to. Those proposals have to come from London.