Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have taken note of the Senator’s comments on this very important issue. As he knows, this Bill is an outworking of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union as it plans to tighten its border security and reduce levels of immigration. Brexit always had the potential to be profoundly disruptive for Northern Ireland and the island of Ireland as a whole. Along with our EU partners, we have consistently sought to minimise this disruption and we will continue to do so.

The Government is conscious of the cross-Border nature of many people’s lives on the island of Ireland and the continued protection of their way of life remains a priority. Our position is clear that there should be no hard border on the island of Ireland. This legislation remains under consideration in the UK Parliament. We will continue to engage with the UK Government to ensure that our position is clearly heard as the Nationality and Borders Bill progresses. I agree with the Senator that we need to be very vocal on this matter.