Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I accept that media reports in Ireland and across the water in Britain yesterday about the implementation of the backstop agreed between the British Government and the EU in December amounted to speculation. Nonetheless, at this stage, they are very worrying.

It is clear there is still a wide difference of opinion between the various actors, that is to say, the British Government and the European Union. I have heard the Irish Government say that Chequers represents a basis for progress, although I do not know what that means. I believe the Chequers plan put forward by the Tory Government does not resolve the crucially important and sensitive issues surrounding the Border and the protection of citizens' rights in the North. On the contrary, I think it serves only to confuse and deflect. Theresa May's plan falls well short of what was contained in the December backstop and well short of the benchmarks that had been agreed to protect the Good Friday Agreement in all of its parts, which includes no diminution of the rights of citizens in the North of Ireland and to ensure no hardening of the Border.

That is the bottom line. We have an agreed cross-party position right across the Oireachtas that the way to do that is to ensure the North remains within the customs union and the Single Market, although there are different iterations of that. It is very important at this stage that the Government holds firm and that Mr. Barnier and the negotiating team hold firm. What is meant by Chequers as a basis for progress? What is meant by latitude or a perception of latitude on the part of Dublin in terms of revisiting the backstop? The bottom lines are the bottom lines. They are the minimum necessary protections for this island and they have to be honoured.

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