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

I would caution against taking a line from some political commentary as outline facts. What we have in writing is what people should look at and see. This is the commitment the British Government has made to 27 EU countries, not only to Ireland, and to EU institutions at the most senior level. Those commitments are cast iron in my view and in the view of the EU negotiators and the EU institutions within the EU Union at Council and Commission level. The Deputies have seen very strong commentary in response to the ambiguous comments that were made last weekend, which created concern in Ireland and elsewhere. David Davis has subsequently clarified those comments and unfortunately Deputy McDonald has chosen to not quote him in that regard. Rather than trying to raise unfounded fears, we need to reassure communities living in the Border regions. This is what the Government is trying to do. We received very clear assurances in writing last week. As of tomorrow morning we will also have clear reassurance in the EU guidelines around how the EU is going to approach phase two to make sure the commitments will be honoured in full. The wording on that in the first paragraph of the guidelines will be very clear to ensure no back sliding from the commitments made last week. If that was to happen, it would prevent phase two from going ahead. It is not a question of whether phase two can be completed in the absence of the commitments being honoured; it would not progress at all if there is no evidence to show that the phase one commitments are being faithfully translated into legal terms as quickly as possible.

I share some of the concerns of many people in the Border counties. It is the Government's job to make sure we can reassure people on the basis of what has been agreed, in black and white and in writing. We intend to ensure that the hard won negotiating successes of last week in respect of the wording agreed between the British Government and the EU task force is factored into the phase two process so that we can provide reassurance for people who live in the Border counties, and to reassure the many others on the island of Ireland who are concerned about it.

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