Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Interviews are being conducted in respect of the new task force on crime. An allocation of €5 million has been made available on foot of discussions with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and the task force on crime will be up and running as soon as possible over the next couple of months.

In respect of North-South bodies, I would not like to see the return of customs points along the Border in the event that the electorate in Britain were to decide to leave the EU. However, I would not have any control over that, albeit it would be our wish not to see it happen. I listened to the managing director of a company based in Monaghan yesterday saying that much of that company's machinery moves through Britain and that this would mean extra paperwork both into Britain and exiting through Britain which would be bureaucratic, inefficient and cost time and money. Clearly, I have a difference of opinion here with the Secretary of State. If the decision is to leave, it would be our wish in the subsequent two-year negotiation, which would probably be a preliminary period, to avoid that happening. However, one does not have control over it in that the attitude of other countries in Europe towards Britain is unknown. The agreement reached at the European Council on the propositions put forward by Prime Minister David Cameron was done on a one-off basis. If the electorate in Britain decides to remain as a member state of Europe, those changes become effective immediately. If they decide to leave the European Union, we are into a complex and long series of difficult negotiations the outcome of which is uncertain. While I would like to think that we will not end up with border controls and customs points, I find it hard to see how, in that event, one could avoid having some measure of that applying. It is not something the Government would be in control of.

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