Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It appears at this stage that the UK is seeking a harder exit - leaving the customs union, getting rid of free movement of people and so forth. There is a significant contradiction in what it is saying in terms of wanting to maintain the common travel area and free movement on the island of Ireland while simultaneously saying it wants a hard Brexit. What have we heard from the UK? It is very hard to square that circle. On the one hand it is saying it wishes to establish its UK border force and enforce everything while simultaneously saying it wishes to keep everything else. Is it looking at it simplistically? Logistically, it would make sense to have the Irish Sea as the border but I do not believe it is willing to go with that and I am not sure the Unionist population would be willing to embrace the concept either. What has been heard on that?