A hard border on the island of Ireland will not be accepted by the Irish Government, Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed said. His comments come in response to the European Commission chief spokesperson’s statement on Tuesday which said in a no-deal Brexit scenario “it’s pretty obvious you will have a hard border”.

However, Minister Creed is adamant that there is a solution to the border in the withdrawal agreement, which was defeated in Westminster last week.

Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed was speaking on RTÉ Radio One’s Morning Ireland programme on Wednesday morning.

“We do not envisage, under any circumstances, border infrastructure,” Minister Creed said, even when pressed on whether that would be the case if there is a no-deal. “We need a definitive response from the UK parliament. What is abundantly clear is that this Government is not countenancing, in any circumstances, a hard border. We have a solution in the context of the withdrawal agreement. The focus must be on the UK at the moment.”

RTÉ presenter Audrey Carville asked him who will check the tanker load of Lac Patrick milk crossing the North-South border on the 30 March. But Minister Creed was adamant that a solution exists in the context of the withdrawal agreement and that there will be no hard border.

“It is imperative now that the focus remains fully on Westminster because we have negotiated an agreement that deals with the border issue,” he said, adding that we are “in a moment of high political drama. We have a solution to these issues. We share the exact same position as articulated by the president of the European Commission that there will be no border infrastructure”.

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