Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what recent meetings he has held with representatives of technology firms on the use of technology at the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Our policy is clear – we are committed to ensuring that there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland and to ensuring the same unfettered access for Northern Ireland's businesses to the whole of the UK's internal market. We have said categorically that there will be no physical infrastructure or related checks and controls at the border.

In the course of meetings across a variety of sectors and industry groups, the Secretary of State discussed the UK’s proposed customs arrangements following our exit from the EU, the Northern Ireland and Ireland land border has also been discussed.

Since the referendum, HMRC officials and the Border Delivery Group have also met with over 300 businesses and representative bodies covering a wide range of sectors and interests as well as engaging with a wide range of suppliers in relation to UK border arrangements both for EU Exit and longer term future border arrangements.

My department has been coordinating work with HMRC, Border Force and the cross-government Border Delivery Group on this issue. They are working on finding technological facilitations in relation to the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, and ensuring that the UK has a functioning customs regime when we leave the EU.