Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Niamh Smyth for her question. Last Friday was a crucial moment in the negotiations and a good day for Ireland, North and South. The Government’s long-standing goals in the context of ensuring that the Good Friday Agreement, in all its parts, and North South co-operation will be protected and in maintaining the common travel area were secured.

Crucially, in the context of the Good Friday Agreement and protecting the gains of the peace process, the UK restated its aspiration to avoid a hard border and also set out in detail for the first time on how this could be achieved. In the event that it is not possible to resolve the Border issue as part of a wider EU-UK future relationship agreement - which has always been the Government’s preference - or through a specific solution for Ireland, the UK has committed that, in the absence of agreed solutions, it "will maintain full alignment with those rules of the Internal Market and the Customs Union which, now or in the future, support North-South cooperation, the all-island economy and the protection of the 1998 agreement". It has also been agreed that any agreements put in place will be accompanied by effective mechanisms to ensure implementation and oversight. We very much welcome these assurances and the details that back them up. I am satisfied that in all eventualities a hard border will be avoided.

The Government will continue to work intensively, as part of the EU 27, to ensure that the UK's exit from the EU does not undermine the peace process and does not give rise to the reintroduction of a border on the island or the introduction of one in the Irish Sea. The avoiding of a hard border is described as a “guarantee” on the UK’s part and as the “overarching requirement”. We are pleased that discussions will continue through a distinct strand in phase 2 of the negotiations. It was a very successful strategy in phase 1 to have a distinct Irish strand, along with the financial settlement and citizens' rights strands. We wanted to have that distinction again in phase 2 because there was a legitimate fear that the Irish issues would be put into a pot with all of the other big trade issues and would not get the same focus or priority. That is not now going to be the case. In phase 2, just as in phase 1, there will be a distinct Irish issues chapter or strand. That will be part of an overall agreement whereby we will have to support solutions for the Irish issues.

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