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Enda Kenny: 'Divisive border' will not be reimposed after Brexit

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said a 'hard' border will not be imposed after Brexit. Picture by Niall Carson, Press Association
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said a 'hard' border will not be imposed after Brexit. Picture by Niall Carson, Press Association Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said a 'hard' border will not be imposed after Brexit. Picture by Niall Carson, Press Association

ENDA Kenny is confident the European Union will not allow "one of the most divisive borders in the world" to be reimposed in Ireland after Brexit.

In a major policy speech, the Taoiseach said the Republic has "no choice" but to resist a hard border with the north once the UK leaves the EU.

"I have stressed this point to every European leader I have met," he said.

He told the Institute of International and European Affairs in Dublin: "I am confident that the European Union will not bring us back to a border of division."

Ireland will be negotiating from a position of strength as one of the 27 EU countries sitting across the table from Britain, the Taoiseach said.

Negotiations are to due to begin after British Prime Minister Theresa May triggers Article 50, which starts the process of the UK pulling out of the EU.

But Mr Kenny warned a political vacuum in the north could hurt its interests during the Brexit talks.

And he said all political forces in Ireland needed to come together if there was to be any chance of success.

"We have no choice but to work together, north and south, all of us," he said.

He also defended what he characterised as his minority Fine Gael-led government's focus on Northern Ireland in the lead-up to the imminent Brexit negotiations.

He said although fewer than 350,000 people in the north voted for Brexit "every man, woman and child in Northern Ireland will be affected by the outcome".

"And the vast majority of those affected are entitled to be Irish, and therefore EU, citizens," he said.

"When I hear people say the Government is too focused on the north, I urge them to consider how you would feel if Ireland was to be removed from the European Union in similar circumstances."

Mr Kenny said Brexit would leave Ireland facing unprecedented political, economic and diplomatic challenges as well as "challenges to our peace, and challenges to our prosperity".

Meanwhile, Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt said Brexit has put the north's block grant from Westminster at risk.

He said question marks over the £10 billion-plus Treasury subvention emphasised the need to "create more wealth".

"We should aspire to be less dependent on the block grant," he told the NI Chamber's 5 leaders, 5 Days series in Belfast city centre yesterday.

In a separate speech, SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said yesterday attaining EU special status for Northern Ireland post-Brexit will be top of his party's agenda in negotiations after the election.

"Special status means that our economy, our society and our political agreements are protected. It means that we retain the four freedoms of the European Union and that we do not see the return of border checks on this island," he said.