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

I accept that is contradictory, but in the British Prime Minister's official speech last Friday which was welcome she did not resile from option C, as they saw it - the backstop or fallback position. I made a commentary on the A and B options which she reiterated. She essentially repeated some of what had been published in a British paper last summer when it was looking at two options - a customs union partnership and largely exempting approximately 80% of business activity back and forth across the Border. That would be a hard sell to the European Union that will look to maintain and protect the integrity of the Single Market.

There is a long way to go in the negotiations and the House should not draw quick conclusions about what that means. I am convinced that we will find a way through maintaining strong solidarity with our EU partners to ensure infrastructure will never again be installed at the Border. I believe the British Government is serious about trying to make that happen, but it certainly wants to try to persuade us that there is another way of doing it that is different from the backstop negotiated.

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