Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

When I visited Prime Minister May at Downing Street very shortly after she was elected, we both agreed, in the context of these matters, that there would be no return to a hard border and that we would keep, for want of a better term, the "invisible" Border we have now, which is very different from what applied before and which would preserve the benefits of the common travel area that has, as Deputy McDonald is well aware, existed since the 1920s. I mentioned this, in the first instance, to Chancellor Merkel of German, President Hollande of France, Mr. Barnier, Presidents Tusk and Juncker, as well as all the others, because they understand - at a European level - that there has been a peace process in Ireland for quite a long time arising from the Good Friday Agreement, which Europe supports. We want to preserve that. This means that while some may seek alternative strategies or special status of one sort or another, we have a particular set of circumstances that I discussed with the First Minister, the deputy First Minister, the North-South Ministerial Council and the Executive Assembly. That means we will have a land border with the European Union when the UK leaves. We have PEACE and INTERREG funds and we want to preserve those benefits so the people of the island can have the intertwining of our economies progress in the way we would like. I have set out our priorities, which are our citizens, our trade, our economy, the Border, the common travel area and our future relationship with the European Union.

See this speech in context