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Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that at a time when some of the world is looking inwards, Ireland is looking out, hinting at Brexit and American foreign policy.<\/p>\nTaoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that at a time when some of the world is looking inwards, Ireland is looking out, hinting at Brexit and American foreign policy.<\/p>\n
The Taoiseach was launching a Global Schools program at Dublin\u2019s Ringsend College when he was asked about Brexit.<\/p>\n
\u201cRather than seeing ourselves as an island, and turning our back on the world \u2013 and a lot of people now are looking inwards, you see it a lot in eastern Europe, you see it America, they\u2019re looking inwards, they don\u2019t want outsiders, they don\u2019t want visitors, they don\u2019t want migrants coming to their country \u2013 and we see Ireland very differently, we see ourselves as a country at the heart of the European Union,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Varadkar explained to the college pupils the benefits of free movement within the EU, telling them of the career and educational opportunities without visa hindrance or paperwork.<\/p>\n
Asked by one student why UN membership was important during Brexit, Mr Varadkar added that strong relationships with other nations would help Ireland post-Brexit.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the UK are leaving the EU, our relationships are going to change and we need to make sure we keep a close relationship with them as our nearest neighbor.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow they\u2019re leaving the EU, it\u2019s going to be a different place, France and Germany are going to have more influence, which can sometimes be good and sometimes be bad, and we need to be making closer relationships with them too, and the smaller countries in the EU, which are very like Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to make relationships with other countries in the world, because if we find we can\u2019t trade with the UK as much as we used to, and can\u2019t sell to them some of the products we make, we need to be able to sell them to other places, like China, for instance.<\/p>\n
\u201cChina used to be a very poor country and now it\u2019s very wealthy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Global Schools program is an element of Global Ireland, the Government\u2019s policy to double Ireland\u2019s impact in the world by 2025.<\/p>\n
Global Ireland has been dubbed \u201cthe most ambitious renewal and expansion of Ireland\u2019s international presence ever undertaken\u201d by an Irish government.<\/p>\n
British ministers have agreed to make no-deal Brexit planning \u201can operational priority\u201d amid continued opposition to British Prime Minister Theresa May\u2019s draft agreement.<\/p>\n
Mr Varadkar\u2019s deputy, Simon Coveney, said on Tuesday that he would bring a dossier to the Cabinet with a contingency plan on various Brexit outcomes.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course we have to prepare for (a no-deal Brexit),\u201d the T\u00e1naiste told RTE Radio One\u2019s Morning Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is the other side of the story.\u201d<\/p>\n