Frank Feighan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I also want to remember the late former Deputy Seymour Crawford. I served with Seymour from 2002 and 2011. He was, as Senator Gallagher stated, a gentle giant and an honourable, decent and respectful man. He will be much missed by his colleagues in Leinster House and his constituents. As Senator Leyden said, Seymour did more for North-South relations on the island of Ireland than most, including through his work in the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly. He certainly made a difference.

Last weekend, we had an interesting few days at the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly meeting in the UK. I thank the co-chairs, Deputy Seán Crowe and Mr. Andrew Rosindell, MP, who commemorated the centenary of the ending of the First World War with dignity and respect in Westminster yesterday.We have moved forward in many ways, given that we can now commemorate and respect the up to 50,000 Irish men, including the 30,000 from the Twenty-six Counties who were forgotten. That is for another day, though.

Yesterday, we held some meetings with Ms Karen Bradley. We told her that under no circumstances would there be a hard border on the island of Ireland. People, particularly in the UK, are talking about 98%, 95% or 90% of the deal being done. No deal will be done on Brexit if the Border is not respected and the Good Friday Agreement is not implemented in full. Those are the sticking points. Ms Bradley was asked how the UK could ever be trusted again if it did not respect a written guarantee. She effectively stated that the UK would not renege on its Border agreement. I hope so.

Seymour Crawford was a decent, honourable and honest man, and he will be missed.