Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister very much for his reply. A number of weeks ago, he spoke about a traffic light-type system, whereby the vast majority of goods going over the Border could be dealt with by way of electronic scanning. He also said that a small percentage of goods going over the Border might be subject to random physical checks. Given that the EU is already trading with third-party countries that are outside the customs union, there must be a precedent as to how this might work in practice. Whether we like it or not, the Border between the Republic and Northern Ireland is likely to become the border between the EU and a third-party country that will be outside the customs union. That has serious potential implications for the conduct of trade, cross-Border shopping and the day-to-day life of tens of thousands of people crossing the Border.

Can the Minister give his assessment of what are the options? We know that Revenue has been looking at different scenarios and contingencies. Where would the Government like to take this debate about the nature of a customs border on the island of Ireland?

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