Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As a Government, we very much regret the vote that occurred last night in Westminster to reject the withdrawal agreement and the associated joint political declaration. A no-deal exit would be very bad for Ireland, for the United Kingdom and for all of the European Union. A no-deal scenario would leave us with no guarantee of there not being a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. It would leave us with no protections on citizens' rights and freedoms and, of course, would have a major impact on jobs and the economy, particularly the traded sector, SMEs and the agrifood industry. Therefore we must do all that we can in the coming weeks to avoid a no-deal exit of the UK from the European Union, but not in a way that compromises our fundamental positions.

This is a problem that began in Westminster with the referendum on Brexit. We found a solution: the withdrawal agreement negotiated over several months and agreed by 28 governments. Now Westminster has rejected that solution. Therefore the problem lies in Westminster. I welcome that the British Prime Minister has said she will now engage with senior politicians from all parties to see if they can come together to find a way forward with a Brexit that commands a majority in the House of Commons. However, whatever they come up with must be acceptable to us in Ireland and the European Union as a whole.

The Deputy mentioned the budget impacts. The budget was planned and written with Brexit in mind. That is why we have provided for a budget surplus. That is why we provided for a rainy-day fund. It is also why we provided for a 25% increase in capital spending, with €1.5 billion being invested in infrastructure in Ireland to give the economy a bit of a boost at a time when there is a risk, obviously, of a significant slowdown.

In terms of plans for checks, we are obviously now implementing the no-deal plans. It is no longer contingency planning: we are implementing our no-deal plans. That provides for checks at ports and airports in Dublin and Rosslare. We are not planning for checks along the land border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, nor are we planning for checks in the sea. I cannot imagine how one would carry out checks in the middle of the sea. I think they can only be done at ports and airports.

Everything the Tánaiste has said is very consistent with our position that we stand by the backstop and we stand by the withdrawal agreement. His only concern - it is a genuine concern I have - in answering questions on this issue is that if one uses the wrong words or says things in the wrong way, people will misinterpret that as though one has some sort of secret plan to impose a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland; we have no such secret plan.

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