Flanagan urges Brexit minister to focus on Border

The British secretary of state for Brexit, David Davis, met Taoiseach Enda Kenny and senior Government Ministers in Dublin yesterday for discussions on the UK's decision to leave the EU.

Mr Davis met Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan and Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald at Iveagh House in the afternoon before attending a business dinner with the Taoiseach last night.

Mr Davis told The Irish Times that the Dublin meeting went “very well”, but declined to comment further.

According to a statement issued by Iveagh House after the meeting, Mr Davis briefed the Irish Ministers on his country’s preparations for leaving the EU, while the Irish side emphasised key interests such as Northern Ireland, the Border arrangements, the common travel area, and the importance of economic, trade and “people-to-people relations”.

Mr Flanagan said he “urged prioritisation of the vitally important Northern Ireland dimension in the overall Brexit process, with particular focus on the Border, but also more widely on sustaining the peace and prosperity so painstakingly built up over recent decades”.

There was no statement from the British side.

In his speech to the dinner, hosted by the British Irish Chamber of Commerce, Mr Kenny said he had instructed that the October budget be “Brexit-proofed”.

The budget should prepare for the effects of Brexit by strengthening personal and corporation tax competitiveness, protecting tourism and regional employment, and helping exporters to diversify their markets, the Taoiseach told business leaders.

Mr Kenny said he had asked Michael Noonan, the Minister for Finance, and Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe to ensure that the budget was "shaped by, and addresses, the challenges resulting from Brexit, and to set out a national economic response".

Brexit speeches

Departing from his prepared script, the Taoiseach referred to his trip to Bratislava next week for the EU summit, which will be held without British involvement. “I will have to represent the interests of Ireland and Britain,” he said.

Mr Kenny is delivering a series of speeches on the Government’s response to Brexit and its economic strategy for the future in the coming days.

After last night’s speech, he will travel to Oxford tomorrow for a meeting of the British-Irish Association. Next week the Taoiseach will address Ibec members at the organisation’s annual president’s dinner.

“The gains we have made as a country are hard-won and fragile,” Mr Kenny told the British Irish dinner. “In charting the course ahead, we must continue to be mindful of the mistakes of the past and the lessons we must learn from them.”

The Taoiseach will also stress the need for realism in the coming weeks as Ministers and interest groups make their pitches for extra resources in the budget.

“In the weeks ahead, there will be intense political and parliamentary debate about the best use of the limited resources,” he said.

“If the stronger economy and public finances now allow us to make some choices as a people, the rising international risks remind us that our choices must be good ones, capable of delivering both a just and fair society and a secure and stable economy.”