Brexit fraying UK-Irish relations, Varadkar warns
Written by News on 04/11/2018
Brexit is fraying Britain’s relationship with Ireland, the country’s prime minister Leo Varadkar has warned.
The Taoiseach said the UK’s withdrawal from the bloc had undermined the historic Good Friday Agreement that ended three decades of violence in Northern Ireland, as he called for a guarantee that there will be no return of a hard border with the Republic.
Mr Varadkar has argued securing clarity around Brexit in the near-term would provide “a window of opportunity” to resolve the continuing crisis at Stormont.
He told the Irish broadcaster RTE: “Brexit has undermined the Good Friday Agreement and is fraying the relationship between Britain and Ireland.”
He added: “Anything that pulls the communities apart in Northern Ireland undermines the Good Friday Agreement, and anything that pulls Britain and Ireland apart undermines that relationship.”
Mr Varadkar’s comments come after Nobel Peace Prize winner and Northern Ireland’s former former first minister Lord Trimble accused Mr Varadkar’s government of “riding roughshod” over the 1998 agreement.
Lord Trimble, who helped draw up the deal, claimed the Brexit process could result in the region ending up as part of an “effective EU protectorate”.
Brexit talks have stalled over the EU’s “backstop” plan, which would see Northern Ireland effectively remaining in the customs union and single market unless alternative arrangements were found to prevent a hard border.
Meanwhile, Ireland’s deputy premier Simon Coveney has said he believes a Brexit deal could be reached by the end of November, with his Westminster counterpart, Cabinet Office minister David Lidington, saying negotiators were “very close” after the pair held talks in Dublin.
On Friday Mr Lidington and Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab visited Ireland and Northern Ireland respectively for talks with senior political figures as the deadline for securing a Brexit deal moved closer.
Speaking at a meeting of the British-Irish Intergovernmental conference in Dublin, Mr Coveney said he believed “it is possible to get a deal in November”, adding: “This border issue is complicated to resolve… but I think we’re very close to resolving it. I certainly hope we are.”
Mr Lidington replied by saying: “We’re certainly… very close to resolving it.”
Mr Raab pledged that the UK Government would not sign up to any deal which could threaten the constitutional
integrity of the UK.
(c) Sky News 2018: Brexit fraying UK-Irish relations, Varadkar warns
