Mr. Bernard Boyle:

We have all spoken about the adverse affects of a hard Border and I think we all agree on those adverse affects and their degree.

It is also worth pointing out and remembering that quite a number of people along the Border are actually rubbing their hands in glee at the prospect of a hard frontier. In the 1950s and 1960s, a certain amount of smuggling was carried out along the Border. Such activity involved housewives with sugar and butter and things like that. I do not condone smuggling and what happened at that time was relatively harmless. We see the way smuggling has developed and evolved over the years to where it is now highly organised. It does nothing for the economy of the Border areas. It benefits a number of organisations or families and the money does not trickle down to the rest of the economy so it does not help at all. There is anecdotal evidence to the effect that the people to whom I refer voted for Brexit because it was in their interests to do so. What is in their interests is not in ours. That was another adverse effect of the vote.