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

Deputy Smyth will not be surprised to hear that the pre-registration figures for the so-called Brexpo events indicate that Monaghan is already ahead of Cork, Galway and Dublin. The event in Cork takes place tomorrow and huge numbers of people will be attending. I have been to the Border region on numerous occasions, trying to provide as much clarity as I can on where the negotiations are going and how we are going to protect Border communities and businesses. That work will continue.

What Ireland needs to do over the coming weeks is hold its nerve and trust in the negotiation process. Further, we must trust that the commitments that have been made to Ireland by the British Government can be followed through on in the context of an agreed and settled legal text in the withdrawal treaty that will protect the Good Friday Agreement and ensure that there is an insurance mechanism in place so that we will never have border infrastructure on our island again. We do not want to have to use that insurance mechanism and want the future relationship discussions to solve that problem comprehensively. However, people want that backstop in place to provide the reassurance that is needed. Hopefully we will be able to finalise that in the next few weeks.

See this speech in context