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

There is a misunderstanding in the question. We are not facing the prospect of a hard border again. A no-deal Brexit in this round means a no-trade deal Brexit. We have a deal that prevents a hard border. It is called the withdrawal agreement and the Irish protocol that is in it. We also have a British Government that, as late as last week, confirmed that it will implement the protocol and that it understands its legal obligations in full in the context of its implementation. Let us not create a concern here where it is not merited. We have an arrangement that prevents border infrastructure being necessary on this island even if there is no trade deal in place. The British Government said it will implement that protocol linked to the withdrawal agreement to ensure that this is the case. That involves some limited checks on goods coming into Northern Ireland from GB. Because of the acceptance that there cannot be any border infrastructure between North and South the checks need to happen on entry into Northern Ireland as if the goods were coming into the EU Single Market. That is understood and it took the guts of two years to put together. Let us not equate a no-deal Brexit six months ago with a no-deal Brexit before the end of the year. A no-trade deal Brexit creates a huge problem and huge uncertainty for Irish business. We will deal with that if we have to but we will do everything we can to negotiate a better outcome than that. We have a protocol as part of the withdrawal agreement that deals comprehensively with the Border issue and with protecting the Good Friday Agreement and the relationships on the island. We need to provide reassurance to people that this is in place as an agreement and that we are now pursuing the full implementation of it, to make sure we can put that argument to rest.

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