Ms Alison Hough:

We do not want to play out a no-deal Brexit scenario as we would be in a very difficult situation in terms of continued compliance with the provisions of the Good Friday Agreement. Presumably, many of the features of a no-deal Brexit such as there being absolutely no trade relationship in place on the date of Brexit would result in there being no option but to have a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland which would interfere with a lot of the components of cross-Border co-operation. It would fundamentally break up that co-operation and be a disaster, unless we could get over it by using the Good Friday Agreement mechanisms to put in place lines of communications to ensure continued co-operation in the event that there is a no-deal Brexit. We could be prepared for it.