Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy will be aware that if the Taoiseach, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade or I sought to answer a set of hypothetical questions about what the British might do and what we might do in return, it would not be to our advantage in a very delicate situation like this. It is not for us to play with scenarios and suggest that we would settle for something less than what has been set out from the outset. This is very clear. This is one of the issues that needs to be resolved to the satisfaction of both sides before we move to the next stage. I do not think it would serve those very business interests for which the Deputy rightly expressed concern if Ireland was to outline a set of possible solutions or insist that the UK has this or that piece in its jigsaw. We need to see what the British come forward with. They have pledged very clearly that they want no return to the Border and we clearly want no return to a Border. We must show that the approach that the UK and the EU will be taking before we move to the next stage is consistent with that. While I can understand that people would like to see what would happen if this or that happened, I do not think it is in our interests to articulate alternatives of that nature in public.

See this speech in context