Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It does require bespoke solutions for Northern Ireland and for Britain's future relationship in general with Europe. The problem is that we are no clearer on what a bespoke solution will look like. The British talk about not wanting a Border, maintaining relations and so on but, as I told Michael Barnier and Guy Verhofstadt, I am not sure we can leave it solely to the UK to come up with proposed solutions. The UK has decided to leave and it is its responsibility but we can also have a role and need to be inventive.

The Border is crucially important in terms of the Good Friday Agreement, the common travel area and the rights of our citizens, North and South. However, the Minister gave a very stark figure. The trade worth between €60 billion and €65 billion and the east-west and west-east relationships are not as well understood as the Border issues and I am concerned that Europe will feel that if we can resolve the Border issues, the Irish issue will be solved. It will not be. The Minister knows that tens of thousands of jobs are at stake. We are getting to the crucial part of the negotiations and I wonder if we are prepared as well as we can be for all eventualities.

See this speech in context