Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not agree at all with this. Gibraltar does not have an internationally legally binding agreement. What happens to the status of Gibraltar is a matter between the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Spain. That is a bilateral matter. Gibraltar joined the European Union when Britain joined the European Union.

We already know about - it is referred to in the documents from Prime Minister May, the European Parliament and the European Council - the unique and particular very special circumstances that apply in the case of Northern Ireland because of the peace process and the Border, in respect of which there will be no return of a hard Border. These are already special status arrangements. The Deputy does not seem to want to appreciate or accept it. Everybody in Northern Ireland is, under the Good Friday Agreement, entitled to Irish citizenship and therefore to EU citizenship. This matter is very clear under the Good Friday Agreement. Owing to the intertwining of the economies, I will say it again that there will be no return to a hard Border. The Deputy will keep repeating her mantra and I will tell her that the Irish Government's view, which is shared by the British Government, is that there will be no return to a hard Border, but it will require creativity and a bit of imagination to make this function, depending on the trading relationship that will apply after the divorce between the United Kingdom and the European Union. That is where the measures of real negotiation and complicated and difficult discussions will take place.

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