Bilateral relations with UK critical in case of Brexit, says Kenny

Strong bilateral relations with the UK will be more important than ever if it votes to leave the European Union, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has told the Dáil.

He said there was an established framework for bilateral co-operation and dialogue between the Irish and UK governments. That included a work programme overseen by Government departmental secretaries general and British permanent secretaries.

“If the UK votes to leave the EU it will be more important than ever to have strong bilateral relations and mechanism by which key policy issues can be addressed,” Mr Kenny said.

The Taoiseach was responding to Opposition leaders during Leaders’ Questions when the “Brexit” issue was raised.

Mr Kenny said “the Government continues to plan in order to be as prepared as possible and to actively manage any contingencies that may arise”. There had been some preparatory analysis for a possible vote to exit but “the vast majority of our emphasis has been with work with Britain” on how the EU was better with Britain on board.

Irish voters

The Taoiseach reiterated his plan to visit Britain a number of times before the referendum on June 23rd as part of the Government’s bid to encourage the almost a million Irish voters eligible to vote in the referendum to cast their ballot in favour of remaining in the EU.

He also confirmed to Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin that there would be opportunities for Opposition parties to participate in events along with Government representatives in Britain to encourage a remain vote.

Mr Martin had asked if the willingness of Opposition parties to participate would be taken on board as there had been no engagement to date.

A number of Government Ministers will visit Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Glasgow where there are very strong Irish communities, and Minister of State Paul Kehoe is this week visiting Birmingham.

Mr Kenny said Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan had been very actively involved in EU-UK issues in Britain, in Northern Ireland and in capitals across Europe. Mr Flanagan will next week visit Manchester and Liverpool for discussions on the referendum campaign.

Mr Martin said part of the issue in the UK was the level of anti-European sentiment over the past 30 years “where the EU has served as an all-purpose whipping boy for English nationalists as well as extremists”.

Mr Kenny said the Irish community was generally aware of the existence of the European Commission, European Parliament and European Council “but that is not the case to the same extent in Britain because it has had very few referenda on the question of Europe”.