Plans to operate soft Border ‘well under way’, says Donohoe

Plans for the technology and infrastructure needed for a soft Border between Ireland and Northern Ireland are well under way, and will be available as quickly as needed, Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe has said.

He said a significant amount of work had already been done with the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Enterprise on how to manage trade in as “frictionless a way as possible”.

He said the first phase was to make sure the EU recognised the importance of not going back to a hard Border, and that had been secured. The next phase of work, looking at all of the different options and how they would be dealt with, was under way. “By its nature it has to be private,” Mr Donohoe said.

Asked how quickly the preparations could be rolled out if and when necessary, he responded “as quickly as is needed”.

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He also said the Government was “very realistic about what the creation of a hard Border would look like”.

“I’m not prone to immoderate language, but the creation of a hard Border on our island would have immensely destructive consequences on the economy. The political consequences of it would be vast and entirely negative.”

The Minister was speaking at a breakfast meeting on Brexit in the RDS, Dublin, on Wednesday, arranged by software company PEMAC.

Negotiations

Mr Donohoe said in Brexit negotiations Ireland was on the side of the EU 27, not Britain. “We now have a very strong interest in making sure that the European Union is not defined by the exit of any one country, no matter how valuable that country is.”

Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern said he did not have any great fears about the talks under way between the DUP and the British Conservatives about the former supporting a minority government led by Theresa May.

“The DUP have said they want an open Border and want a soft Brexit,” he said. Ms May no longer had a mandate or majority for a hard Brexit, and would “clearly see she has to make a significant move”.

Corporate tax rate

Former minister for European affairs Lucinda Creighton said discussions about Ireland's corporate tax rate were now "back on the agenda, undoubtedly", and had been referenced by other European leaders in recent times.

IDA chief executive Martin Shanahan said businesses in Britain were doing everything they could to make sure they had access to the European market. There had been unprecedented interest in Ireland since the Brexit referendum last July. "I can tell you categorically there will be investment into this country."