Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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89. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his understanding of an invisible Border with Northern Ireland. [32104/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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As the most tangible symbol of the Peace Process, the invisible border on the island of Ireland is essential to the continuing normalisation of relationships. Protecting the gains of the Peace Process is one of the Government’s priorities in the ongoing withdrawal negotiations, including the avoidance of a hard border. The avoidance of a hard border on the island of Ireland is a shared objective of the Irish and British Governments and our EU partners. The EU negotiation guidelines contain a very strong acknowledgment of Ireland’s unique circumstances, including the need to avoid a hard border. The negotiating directives for the Task Force and the recent paper on Guiding Principles for the Dialogue on Ireland/Northern Ireland fully reflect this.

On 4 September, I met Michel Barnier, the EU’s Chief Negotiator on Brexit, and his team, our second meeting since my appointment. During our discussion, I thanked Mr. Barnier for pursuing Ireland’s unique interests in the negotiations and for the high level of engagement Ireland enjoys with his team. We agreed that, while good progress was made in the last round of negotiations on the Common Travel Area, more detailed work is required on protecting the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts and the peace process, including in avoiding a hard border. I welcomed indications that EU and UK objectives on the Irish issues are converging but noted that the UK needs to back this up with tangible commitments that can pave the way for practical solutions.

Flexible and imaginative solutions will be required to avoid a hard border, including any physical border infrastructure. Ireland has made clear its expectation that there will need to be a political solution and not just a legal or technical one, given that this represents a unique and unprecedented set of circumstances.