Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As I have said on many occasions, we are still not clear about a number of issues regarding the British Government's position. When the Prime Minister writes the letter on behalf of the British Government and triggers Article 50, we will respond to it in detail. A great deal of preparatory work has been done, as the Deputy is well aware. All the options in the different sectors have been set out and considered. We need to know what we are dealing with so we can respond to it. The negotiations are led by the Barnier task force and the Commission and we feed our concerns into it. The Government will respond in detail when Article 50 has been triggered.

No work is under way regarding the acquisition of land for Border customs posts. There was some talk about it some time ago. Our political position is that there will be no return to the Border of the past, and this is agreed and accepted by the British Government. It is a political challenge. It is not a technological or a paper issue. It is a political priority. I was in Kiltyclogher in County Leitrim recently. During the Troubles, Leitrim was the only county from which one could not get to Northern Ireland. Every road was blown up. The people there who are in their senior years never want to go back to that situation, and neither do we.

The Deputy mentioned a special economic zone. These are matters for consideration. My starting point is that there would be no return to that Border. There is political agreement on it that whatever will happen will be consequent on the nature of the relationship the UK wants with Europe from then on, clearly with implications for Ireland.

One of the four priorities set out by Michel Barnier, as head of the Brexit task force, is to deal with the question of Northern Ireland and the Border. He is well aware of the difference between this and Catalonia, which is a Spanish issue, or Gibraltar, which is a Spanish-British issue. Ours is the subject of an international, legally binding agreement.

Deputy Haughey asked a good question about the multi-speed Europe issue, which has been around for a while. Various ideas and proposals, so-called "variable geometry", have always arisen in discussion about future developments of the EU. They are again being mentioned in the context of the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. We have already had such a variable geometry regarding the euro and the Schengen Agreement. Enhanced co-operation has been included in the treaties for this reason and the provisions can be used to allow a group of states to move ahead if they wish with co-operation without all members supporting it. We want to stay in the vanguard, right up at the front. If it transpires that there are two speeds operating in Europe, we want to be at the higher speed and central to it.

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