Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Government's policy position on its approach to the negotiation has been expressed in our contacts with the UK authorities both at the political and Civil Service levels. It is that people, goods and services should pass without let or hindrance from North to South and vice versaand there will be no change in the present position. We know that the British negotiation position is to have a free trade agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union. We suppose that they will make some progress in that negotiation and that if there is not a full free trade agreement, at least there will be something that would be significantly better than the default position of a World Trade Organization arrangement with the UK, treating them as absolute outsiders in a third-country category.

Effectively, therefore, we will have to wait to see what the results of the negotiations are. In the meantime, various Departments and State agencies are looking at the implications both of the free travel area and the invisible Border policy objective which we have. In that context, various options are being examined but it is not possible to make decisions until we see the outcome of the negotiations between the EU and the UK or until they are well advanced.

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