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

I very much agree with the Deputy's initial remarks. We had a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. I remember it well. During the Troubles and prior to 1992 when the Single Market came into effect, I remember very well crossing the Border as a child and in my early teens. There were customs checks. I remember the 24-hour rule and I remember seeing soldiers, and I never want to see any of those things ever again on our island between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. That is why I have been working so hard to secure an agreement over the past year and a half.

In terms of the legislation, we expect to have the heads of the Brexit omnibus Bill within the next two weeks - ideally by the end of next week. That will give a very clear picture as to what is in the legislation. Of course, we will be open to input at that point from Opposition parties as to whether it covers everything that needs to be covered. We anticipate having the final Bill ready for publication on 22 February 2019. It is a big task, which is why the legislative programme that we produced yesterday contains only six Bills on the priority list for publication this session, three of which are explicitly linked to Brexit.

Words are not enough to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. I hear people saying all of the time, in various analyses, that there will not be a hard border just because nobody wants one but it does not work that way. The only way that we can avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland into the long term is by having an agreement on customs, a common customs territory or customs union and regulatory alignment either between Northern Ireland and Ireland or all of the UK and the European Union. That is what we negotiated in the withdrawal agreement and the backstop, namely a common customs territory and regulatory alignment so that there would not have to be a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. It is not good enough for those who rejected this agreement to just say that there will not be a hard border because everyone says that there will not be one or because nobody wants one. We must have a political agreement that involves a single customs territory and regulatory alignment. There are lots of ways of doing that. There are Northern Ireland-specific solutions and there are UK solutions but that is what has to happen if we are to secure an agreement and ensure that a hard border does not emerge on our island.

In response to the Deputy's direct question, I will absolutely defend the backstop but the backstop is there as a means to an end. Let us not forget what the backstop is, namely a legally operable guarantee that the mechanisms will be put in place to ensure no hardening of the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. It is the outcome that we need to achieve and I stand by that, absolutely.

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