Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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67. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the difference between regulatory divergence and mainlining full alignment as described in the final draft of the EU-UK deal. [52887/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The agreement reached last Friday between the EU task force and the UK Government contains a commitment from the UK to protect North South co-operation, as well as its guarantee of avoiding a hard border.

In the event that it is not possible to resolve the border issue as part of a wider EU-UK future relationship agreement, which has always been the Irish Government’s preference, or through specific solutions, paragraph 49 of the report states spells out that, “in the absence of agreed solutions, the United Kingdom will maintain full alignment with those rules of the Internal Market and the Customs Union which, now or in the future, support North-South cooperation, the all-island economy and the protection of the 1998 agreement.”

It has also been agreed that any agreements put in place will be accompanied by effective mechanisms to ensure implementation and oversight. This is an important fail safe, recognising that to avoid a hard border, no matter how it is achieved, Northern Ireland or the UK as a whole will need to remain fully aligned with necessary rules of the Customs Union and the Single Market.

“Alignment” is a term used in EU law in the context of adherence to the acquis communautaire. A hard border is not necessary today because Northern Ireland and Ireland are fully aligned with the acquis communautaire orEU rules. To “maintain full alignment” therefore requires the UK to continue to adhere to all elements of EU Internal Market and Customs Union law which supports the fundamentally important goals set out above. This will have to continue to be the case unless and until such time as there is an alternative solution in place that can continue to meet our shared goal of avoiding a hard border. I am satisfied by this firm commitment from the UK.

In the next phase, the EU will work with the UK to ensure that, under all eventualities, a hard border is avoided. The Government will continue to support the EU Task force in this work.