Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In the course of this morning's COBRA meeting with the British Prime Minister my colleague, deputy First Minister, Michelle O'Neill, emphasised the ongoing need for an all-island approach to Covid-19. We have consistently raised this matter in respect of profiling the disease and projections but also in terms of testing and tracing. This approach is also important for cross-border communities and businesses that are particularly susceptible to sudden economic shocks.

As a result of the Covid-19 crisis but, more particularly, as a result of Brexit, these communities live daily with increased uncertainty. Certainly, the Tories' Internal Market Bill has served to deepen the anxieties felt by families and workers on both sides of the Border. This anxiety is not limited to these communities or even to the island of Ireland because support for the Good Friday Agreement has been widespread. There have been particularly important expressions of support from the United States Congress. It has made an important intervention by, again, definitively ruling out any prospect of a trade deal between the United States and Britain if the Good Friday Agreement is undermined in any way or if there is any prospect of a hardening of the Border on our island. I am sure we are very appreciative of that level of political and diplomatic support. The withdrawal agreement in an international agreement, as is the Good Friday Agreement. I put to the Taoiseach that it has never been more important than now that the Government in Dublin holds the British system and Government to account and keeps its feet to the fire.

Finally, we cannot countenance any hardening of the Border. There will be no hard border on our island. It is our job and, more particularly, the Taoiseach's job as Head of Government to make sure that is the case.

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