David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will be very brief. I thank the Ceann Comhairle. The Taoiseach previously expressed impatience at the lack of clarity from Britain on Brexit. There was some very important clarity on Monday when the British Government announced it will trigger Article 50 on Wednesday, 29 March, which is in only one week's time. We need to get clarity from the Taoiseach. He said in a previous response that the Irish Government's position is very clear on what we want. It is not very clear on what we want in the North of Ireland and tt is not very clear that this Government will support special status for the North. When the Taoiseach says there should be no return to a hard border, what exactly does it mean? We do not want a hard border or a soft border. There are very real concerns about the implications all of this will have on the all-island economy, on cross-border trade, on agriculture North and South and on a range of issues. Did the Taoiseach raise any or all of these issues at the informal meeting of the European heads of Government on 10 March?

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