Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

My question was in the context of the Minister's position as Minister with responsibility for the regions and regional development. Has she met the Minister for Finance to specifically raise with him the issue of the possible return of Border customs posts? It has been suggested there could potentially be five or six major customs points? As the Minister said, she lives close to the Border so she knows the implications of that. If there are approved customs points, many of roads that the Minister and others use will essentially become unapproved for customs purposes. Has she met the Minister for Finance and Revenue and Customs to discuss what they are doing? My question asked the Minister about contingencies. The largest and most difficult contingency facing the Minister - in her ministerial capacity and in her constituency - is the return to a hard Border. Has she met the people who are potentially scoping out areas where there may be customs posts? That is the question. I appreciate the Minister's answer on the other matters but could she tell us about this? As Minister with responsibility for regional affairs and in light of where she lives, I thought she would be very aware of that.

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