merrion street

The Minister for Foreign Affairs & Trade, Simon Coveney T.D., today convened the first meeting of the Brexit Stakeholder Forum in Iveagh House. Bringing together key stakeholders from business, the unions, state agencies, political parties and other leading experts, the Forum will help to inform the Government’s position during the Article 50 negotiations on the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union.
Speaking today, Minister Coveney said:
“I was glad to have the opportunity to update key stakeholders on the progress of Brexit negotiations, and to hear a range of different sectoral concerns, enabling a wider understanding of overall priorities for the negotiations.
While the Stakeholder Forum will focus on the Article 50 negotiations, it is of course part of the Government’s wider commitment to engage as broadly as possible with interest groups and civic society across the island on all aspects of Brexit. Further sectoral dialogues continue to be organised by my colleagues across Government and the next meeting of the All Island Civic Dialogue on Brexit will take place on 28 September.
Today’s first meeting of the Stakeholder Forum comes at an important juncture in the negotiations. While some progress has been made so far, further work is needed in this first phase, including on the Irish specific issues, to build confidence and ensure that there is sufficient progress to allow the process to move to the next phase. This newly established forum will have an important role to play as the Government intensifies our work in preparations for the second phase, where many other important economic and sectoral concerns will be discussed as part of framing the EU’s future relationship with the UK”.

Note to Editors
Chaired by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Brexit Stakeholder Forum will bring together key stakeholders with a view to regularly updating members on the progress of Brexit negotiations, facilitating the sharing of sectoral concerns to enable wider understanding of Ireland’s overall priorities for negotiations and providing a platform for sectoral and EU expertise to underpin the Government’s comprehensive and cohesive approach to Brexit.
The Forum will meet every 4-6 weeks.