Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Forgive me, Taoiseach, but most people thought from the presentation before Christmas that that was all sealed and delivered. For example, one headline read: "Taoiseach spells it out: no hard border, no matter what".

I wish to focus on a point regarding the final status agreement to which the Taoiseach referred. The Copenhagen Economics report is clear, in that a customs union-type deal - Britain would not be in the customs union - would be damaging to Ireland in terms of GDP potentially being as much as 4% less than would otherwise have been the case. One perspective that could be put on this is that we are now being sucked into negotiations with Britain that will result in a final status agreement that will by definition be damaging to Ireland - I accept that Brexit in almost all scenarios will be damaging to Ireland and arguably to Britain as well - and inevitably mean Border checks. Is that not the reality? If Britain has consistently said that it will stay out of the customs union and the Single Market, anything less than membership of same will involve Border checks of some form. Does the Taoiseach not accept that this is the practical outcome of such a final status agreement? There will be full alignment during transition. We get that, but after transition and a status agreement has been finalised between the EU and the UK, if Britain does not remain in the customs union and Single Market, it will involve Border checks. Is Mr. Barnier not correct in saying that? Does the Taoiseach accept his position on that?

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