Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The potential impact of Brexit and the importance of avoiding a hard border to everyone on this island, but in particular those such as me living in Border counties, cannot be underestimated. I welcome that the Government, including the Ministers present, are acutely conscious of this.

We can all agree that the invisible border is the most tangible symbol and gain of the peace process, allowing relationships and communities to be rebuilt and flourish following years of conflict. For 30 or 40 years I have lived in County Louth where there was civil strife and trouble. One could not go North without being stopped by police or soldiers. There was loss of life, civil unrest and violence all around us. Thankfully, the human and economic devastation caused by that violence ended with the Good Friday Agreement, with the co-operation North and South and with the absence of a hard border. That is why our countries and our counties have flourished. Dundalk in County Louth and Newry in County Down were both devastated economically and politically as a result of the violence. Since then they have flourished and they are now boom towns in a boom economy.

The invisible border facilitates frictionless cross-border trade. Some 7,000 firms trade across the Border from North to South, supporting over 160,000 jobs. This trade is particularly crucial for SMEs in Northern Ireland, almost three quarters of which rely on Ireland as their first export market.

It is very significant that many in the business community in Northern Ireland, including the Ulster Farmers’ Union, have spoken out publicly in support of the withdrawal agreement and the protocol reached between the EU and UK, recognising that it provides the certainty required for them as operators as well the clarity needed to allow the peace process to move forward.

North-South co-operation, both formal and informal, is also a very practical outworking of the peace process which allows for the normalisation of relationships between people across the island, to our mutual benefit. Businesses and communities, lives and livelihoods have developed and prospered, with people crossing the Border unimpeded every day to work, study, visit family, and connect with their local communities.

It is extraordinary just how ordinary is has become to cross what was once a heavily securitised border. Over the past 20 years or so it has become a routine part of life and every month there are almost 2 million car crossings both North and South. The sheer normality of all these simple and mundane contacts and connections are integral to communities in Border regions and to harnessing the opportunities of peace. I often point to the interconnected and symbiotic relationship between peace and prosperity. We have had peace and prosperity on both sides of the Border. That is what the Government wants and what the people will continue to support. For these reasons - for peace, prosperity and partnership - the Government has maintained the policy that the invisible border on this island must remain just that, and be open and free of any physical infrastructure or associated checks and controls.

We have a new generation of young people, North and South, who are highly educated and motivated. They have never known violence. They have enjoyed free movement to move North and South for study, work, play or whatever. It is very important that that opportunity continues and the dark and dismal years which so many of us faced for many decades particularly in the Border counties will never come again.

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