Simon Coveney's emphatic insistence on '˜special status' and an '˜invisible border' welcomed by Martina Anderson

Sinn Féin MEP Martina Anderson says Dublin's emphatic insistence this week that the North must be granted '˜special status' in the event of Brexit is a positive development.

She made the comments after the Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said Dublin was “insisting on achieving special status for Northern Ireland” and maintaining an “invisible border” on the island.

“It is not so much about a soft or hard border, it is about an invisible border effectively, that you don’t notice as you cross it,” said Mr. Coveney, following a meeting with the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier.

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Ms. Anderson said: “It is a very welcome development that the Dublin Government is now coming onto the ground of special status as the only way to prevent a hard border in Ireland in the event of Brexit.

“Special status within the EU would also give effect to the democratic wishes of the majority in the North who voted to remain so Dublin should join us in making that case.”

The Derry Sinn Féin MEP said the adoption of a united front by those parties supportive of special status would be constructive.

“Sinn Féin has been lobbying every EU member state on the need for special status and there is a great deal of empathy with our position. if the Dublin Government is now also coming on board it will greatly strengthen our case, particularly in the face of Britain’s increasingly chaotic Brexit agenda.”