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

The deal between the UK and the EU is one we can live with. It is a deal that protects Ireland's core interests in terms of the lack of any Border infrastructure, be that live animal, sanitary and phytosanitary, customs or regulatory checks or any form of tariff. What we have managed to achieve with our partners in the EU is a negotiated deal with two different British Governments, both of which took quite a different approach under former Prime Minister Theresa May and Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Those deals had to be designed primarily around British red lines while at the same time protecting core Irish interests.

It is important to say that the revised political declaration on the level playing field issues is stronger than Deputy Howlin suggests in terms of an insistence by the EU side on a level playing field in the future should there be free trade that is tariff and quota free, which is the stated objective.

The briefing from the EU after the deal was done referred to the political declaration, stating it:

...provides for an ambitious FTA with zero tariffs and quotas between the EU and the UK. It states that robust commitments on a level playing field should ensure open and fair competition. The precise nature of commitments will be commensurate with the ambition of the future relationship and take into account the economic connectedness and geographic proximity of the UK.

If the UK wants tariff-free and quota-free trade that is as seamless as it would like it to be with the EU under an FTA, it will have to provide guarantees, sector by sector, regarding issues on a level playing field and equivalents. That is an absolute must or else the UK will not have the type of FTA that it wants. We cannot have a situation whereby the UK decides to change fundamentally its regulatory model, diverges from EU standards and, at the same time, trades into the EU uninhibited. I am afraid that is not realistic. We have to protect our market, our consumers and our businesses. I hope there will be free trade because that is in the interests of Ireland and the UK. If that is to happen, however, the issue of the level playing field will be a big part of any discussion of the future relationship. I hope we can get to that if we can get the withdrawal agreement ratified and settled and allow the UK to leave the EU in an orderly manner so that we can move onto to a transition period to resolve all of these issues.

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