Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am becoming increasingly concerned, certainly about the British negotiating position. Over the weekend the British Foreign Secretary directly challenged the stated position of the British Prime Minister. It seems that there is no coherent view within the British Government which is extremely worrying, particularly in the context of there being no clear solution to the problem of having a border on this island which none of us wants and given the lack of a voice in Northern Ireland in a functioning Executive. I understand the very good reasons the Government disengaged or halted the bilateral work on contingency planning, but we all cannot stand back and look at an emerging train wreck and allow it to happen before being flabbergasted by the consequences. As Deputy Micheál Martin asked, what specifically has the Government fed into the EU negotiating position in respect of the island of Ireland and the solution if the United Kingdom leaves the customs union? Is it a bespoke all-island solution or something else? We need to hear exactly what is the negotiating position of Ireland.

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