Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Border counties are a particular case because they are at the coal face and I am glad to get clarification, from the Government side, the EU side and the UK side, that there is an understanding on the issue. It is important for companies such as Lakeland Dairies, which have plants on both sides of the Border, and we certainly do not want to go back to the time when there was a very visible Border because it curtailed the development of the area. I ask that, in future negotiations, positive discrimination be exercised in respect of Border counties because we are only now getting back onto our feet following the Troubles. We need to be mindful, particularly in the trade negotiations, that towns and villages along the Border are only now rising from the ashes of the Troubles.

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