Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the importance of the points the Deputy has stressed. I assure him and the House that the issues will be fundamental in the context of Ireland's position. I listened to Prime Minister May's speech.

4 o’clock

While the Deputy refers to certain aspects of the speech, it is important that we keep it in context. In her Lancaster House address, she said:

We cannot forget that, as we leave, the United Kingdom will share a land border with the EU, and maintaining that common travel area with the Republic of Ireland will be an important priority for the UK in the talks ahead.

She went on to state:

[We look forward to delivering] a practical solution that allows the maintenance of the common travel area with the Republic ... Nobody wants [a] to return to the borders of the past, so we will make it a priority to deliver a practical solution as soon as we can.

I would regard that as being encouraging and not a hundred miles from our position of ensuring the invisible nature of the Border and the common travel area, with particular reference to the content of the Good Friday Agreement, an internationally-lodged and legally-binding document, which, in my view, will be fundamental in this process of negotiation.

See this speech in context