Part of 2. Questions to the Counsel General and Brexit Minister – in the Senedd at 2:26 pm on 16 January 2019.
I’m grateful to the Counsel General for that response, and may I encourage him to continue to engage with the Irish Government? As I mentioned yesterday, myself and Rhun ap Iorwerth were able to meet politicians from across the political spectrum in the Republic of Ireland last week, including Helen McEntee, the Brexit Minister. May I ask him, and I touched upon this yesterday, about article 50 and the call from the Welsh Government, and the Scottish Government, of course, that the UK Government should extend article 50? May I ask whether he would be willing to convey that message to the Republic of Ireland too, as there needs to be consent from all member states within the EU if that request were to be made by the UK Government as we hope to see? And on a broader issue, and if Brexit were to proceed, what work has been done, for example, to look at the INTERREG plan or something similar for the future, as is possible, of course, in the case of Norway and Sweden, even including nations outwith the European Union?