Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Verhofstadt for accepting the invitation to attend and for his steadfast defence of Ireland's and Northern Ireland's interests in the Brexit negotiations. It is very much appreciated. I would like to ask him about the customs union. I met recently with members of the British Government in London. They are resolute that they are leaving the customs union and were pretty clear that they are open to regulatory divergence, including in food, animal welfare and so on. As we all know, they insist both are possible without any borders.

There has been a bovine theme this morning so I will give an example in keeping with it. Brazil produces high-quality, grass-fed beef at just above half the price that British and Irish farmers can afford. If the UK, outside the customs union, were to reach a zero-tariff agreement with Brazil on beef, large containers of high-quality Brazilian beef would land in Belfast. Smugglers would convey that beef into the Republic. Some of those smugglers have links to paramilitary organisations in Northern Ireland. Inevitably, the beef would continue on to the rest of Europe. Northern Ireland would thus be used as a back door for cheap, high-quality, tariff-free, illegal beef to come into Europe. Inevitably, the EU would have to respond and, inevitably, we would see a hard border. We would have a nationalist community in Northern Ireland pulled out of Europe against its will, seeing a fence built around it, at the same time as profits from smuggling would start funnelling into paramilitary organisations there. Brazilian cows could contribute to the material destabilisation of the peace process.

I sense some softening of a position in the UK on the customs union. The British are saying they will leave the customs union but might be able to talk about a customs union. What is the European Parliament's position on trying to find the space where people can save face politically but, by changing the word "the" to "a", where the UK can stay in the customs union in all but name, thus avoiding a hard border around the Six Counties?