GOV MUST PUBLISH SUBSTANTIAL BREXIT PLAN

Labour Party Leader, Brendan Howlin has called on the Government to publish a substantial plan for Brexit before the special EU Council meeting on Brexit on April 29th.

“Last week, we saw the Government publish their Brexit priorities paper. The document itself was 24 pages in length, 17 of which were mostly blank or contained pictures. What we got when you take out all the bluster is essentially a 4 page document.

“The Government have known the outcome of the Brexit referendum since last June. For an issue that is going to have such a profound impact on our island, it is far more deserving than 4 pages of content. This is not a plan for Brexit. It is a piece of political padding.

“In what we have seen, there is a restatement of the priorities identified by Government shortly after the Brexit vote. But there is no indication of how much work has been done so that these might be regarded as European priorities for the negotiations.

” I am calling on the Taoiseach to immediately agree to meet with the leaders of all political parties and groupings in Leinster House, to provide a much more comprehensive briefing as to Ireland’s readiness for the negotiations that are about to begin.

“With the triggering of Article 50 just 8 days away, Irish people deserve much more than what we have seen so far.”