Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The words "moving might and main" are lovely but we have been hearing them for a year. It is an inescapable truth that we are heading towards a hard border. In the past hour, Donald Tusk published what the Financial Timeshas said is a rebuff of Theresa May's vision for trade after Brexit, laying out a narrow view of future relations between the UK and the EU. The negotiating position of the 27 is now, "Divergence in external tariffs and internal rules as well as absence of common institutions and a shared legal system, necessitates checks and controls to uphold the integrity of the EU single market". Despite all the talk, is it not a fact that we are now heading towards a hard border on the island of Ireland and a border between the island of Ireland and our biggest trading partner, the United Kingdom?

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