Ambassador’s appearance before the House of Lords EU Committee

Ambassador Dan Mulhall appeared before the House of Lords EU Select Committee this afternoon. The Ambassador was one of three EU Ambassadors giving evidence today in the Committee’s inquiry into the UK vision for EU reform.

Ambassador Mulhall gave an overview:

“In Ireland, we take an active interest in the British debate on its future in the EU. This is because, for Ireland, EU membership is a core national priority to which we are fully committed. It is clearly very important for Ireland that our nearest neighbour should continue to be one of our partners within the EU. Among the EU member states, we have probably the most intensive, multi-stranded relationship with you. We are the only country with a land border with the UK and have extensive, mutually-beneficial economic links, with large flows of trade, investment and tourism between our two countries. Naturally, we would be concerned about a UK exit from the EU and its potential implications for British-Irish relations, which have never been better than they are today, and for Northern Ireland.”

Ambassador Dan Mulhall outlined that:

“The European Union has a gift for finding common ground. Ireland shares a desire to see the EU function as effectively as possible under the terms of the Treaties so as to best serve the interests of our peoples. We will be looking to accommodate UK concerns because we want you to remain members of the Union within which we have been partners for more than four decades. We want to see the UK continue to be an EU member because we worry about the impact of an exit, on our economy, on British-Irish relations, on Northern Ireland and on the effectiveness of the EU to which we have committed our future. Speaking in London last month, our Foreign Minister Charlie Flanagan said that Ireland would be supportive of the UK in helping “to achieve reasonable reform objectives”, but that we must also be respectful of our 26 other partners.”

Further details and links to evidence.

You can follow Ambassador Dan Mulhall on Twitter @DanMulhall

Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Charlie Flanagan’s address to Chatham House on ‘British-Irish relations: implications of a possible Brexit’.