merrion street

Dara Murphy, TD, Minister of State for European Affairs, Data Protection and the EU Digital Single Market, has said that there is widespread recognition among European partners of the strong contribution that the United Kingdom makes as a member of the European Union.
Minister Murphy was speaking after a meeting of the General Affairs Council in Brussels where Europe Ministers prepared the groundwork for next month’s EU leaders’ summit, which will take place shortly after the UK referendum on EU membership.
Speaking in Brussels, Minister Murphy said:
“By the time EU leaders meet for the next European Council summit in June, voters in the United Kingdom will have cast their vote and answered the question of whether they wish the UK to remain a member of the European Union.”
“The forthcoming referendum is clearly a matter that is solely for the UK electorate to decide upon. However, the question of the UK’s EU membership resonates far beyond the UK’s borders. We in Ireland, as the UK's closest neighbour and the only Member State with which it has a land border, are very conscious of the importance of the decision to be taken by the UK.”
"We are by no means alone in Ireland in highly valuing British membership of the European Union. From my own exchanges with European counterparts, I can attest to the widespread recognition among European partners of the strong contribution that the United Kingdom makes as a member of the European Union.”
“Like Ireland, our European partners highly value the UK’s place at the EU table, where as a Union of 28 Member States, we are in the business of working together to deliver solutions for citizens to complex challenges that don’t stop at national borders.”