Avoiding a hard border 'not guaranteed'

Around 150,000 Irish trucks use the UK land-bridge to export 3m tonnes of goods to the EU every year and there are mounting fears that this will be severely disrupted post-Brexit.

In a stark warning, the most senior official in the Department of Foreign Affairs has said the avoidance of a hard border after Brexit is not now guaranteed.

Niall Burgess, secretary general of the Department of Foreign Affairs, has said the only way to ensure we do not go back to a border on the island of Ireland is through the agreed protocol, which is now "not guaranteed".