Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I gave a commitment to Deputy Smith that I would do that and when I leave this evening I will find out the current position. The Deputy was seeking special EU cohesion funds for Border areas, which I consider a reasonable request. I do not know the current position. It was only a couple of weeks ago and I do not know if we have received a response at this stage. I will follow it up because I consider the request perfectly fair. As the Deputy knows, the whole Brexit situation is in a state of flux. It might be a little early to say that we are looking for some sort of special deal for roads in the Border regions because of the adverse effects of Brexit and a hard border on them given that we do not know what the effect will be at the moment. However, I understand the difficulties for Border towns and Border trade and am sympathetic. If this requires additional infrastructure, I will certainly look at it as being a particular case. I do not want to give a complete and utter blanket commitment at this stage when we do not know specifically what the consequences will be for the Border areas or anywhere else.

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