Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I beg to differ. The only mention of Ireland is in a restatement of support for the peace process which has always been there and is, of course, very welcome. There is a vague statement about flexible and imaginative solutions being needed to avoid a hard border, but there is nothing concrete. "Flexible and imaginative" is diplomatic-speak for "We have no idea". Mr. Barnier has been honest with us and told us that the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union will have consequences. He said he had a duty to tell the truth in this regard and that customs controls were part of EU border management. My Sinn Féin colleagues and I have made freedom of information requests on what the imaginative and flexible solutions might be, but we have hit a brick wall. We cannot accept that Border communities be kept in the dark about what Brexit might mean for them.

Mr. Irwin said there were ten times more declarations and paperwork for people trading across a border and that we were looking for better facilitation stations or IT solutions, but that provides no reassurance for companies trading across the Border. How many extra IT staff have been brought in for this purpose? I cannot get my head around how it might be approached without talking to the UK revenue authorities.