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Taoiseach stresses no hard border during Derry visit

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar paid a symbolic visit to a museum established at the headquarters of loyal order, the Apprentice Boys of Derry. Picture by Margaret McLaughlin
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar paid a symbolic visit to a museum established at the headquarters of loyal order, the Apprentice Boys of Derry. Picture by Margaret McLaughlin Taoiseach Leo Varadkar paid a symbolic visit to a museum established at the headquarters of loyal order, the Apprentice Boys of Derry. Picture by Margaret McLaughlin

LEO Varadkar has said he remains hopeful that a deal will be struck to ensure there will be no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

On a visit to Derry the taoiseach said he was “confident, but not complacent” that there would not be a hard border - and his government was not preparing for one.

The taoiseach was speaking about the "enormous challenge" to avoid a return to the border post Brexit as he visited the city to hear concerns of people living close to the border.

He also paid a visit to a museum established by the Apprentice Boys before visiting the city’s Rath Mór Park social enterprise hub in the Creggan area.

Mr Varadkar was welcomed to the Apprentice Boys museum by the loyal order’s general secretary, William Moore who invited him to return to Derry to view one of the organisation’s annual parades.

The taoiseach was given a tour of the museum and met the governor of the Apprentice Boys, Graeme Stenhouse, and DUP politician Lord Hay, a former speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly. His visit followed a similar visit to the headquarters of the Orange Order in Belfast.

As he arrived at the Rath Mór centre, the taoiseach was greeted by a small number of dissident republican groups protesting calling for an end to Dublin’s special criminal courts, informer-led trials and other issues.

After meeting the centre management, he was given a tour of around 60 businesses which use the facility. He also met local school children and held a brief meeting with Lorraine Taylor, the wife of dissident republican prisoner, Tony Taylor who has been held in prison without charge since March 2016.

Before leaving Rath Mór, the taoiseach said his government would work hard in the coming weeks to get agreement with the UK.

“I think if we have some certainty about the next few years when it comes to Brexit and, of course, certainty that there’s won’t be a hard border between north and south, I think we may then be in a good position try to get those talks (about the restoration of Stormont) going again,” he said.

Mr Varadkar said he has spent a lot of time since becoming taoiseach trying to ensure there wouldn’t be a hard Brexit or a Brexit that failed to make special arrangements for Northern Ireland. He said he was “confident but not complacent” that there would not be a hard border and his government was not preparing for one.

“It creates an enormous challenge. The reason why we don’t have a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland or between Britain and Ireland is because of the European Union, because of the fact that we have the same rules and regulations and that is the crux of it,” he said.

Mr Varadkar rounded off his trip to Derry at an event at St Columb’s College last night for a dinner in honour of former SDLP leader Mark Durkan.