reland
Ireland's leaders say deal shows Britain is edging towards soft Brexit
PM says he is delighted with agreement and promises ‘Britain will have no closer friend than Ireland’ in next stage of talks
Leo Varadkar said relations had been damaged by the fractious negotiations but could be quickly repaired. Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters
Lisa O'Carroll in Dublin and Henry McDonald in Belfast
Friday 8 December 2017 15.41 GMTLast modified on Friday 8 December 2017 15.43 GMT
The Irish border deal hammered out after objections from the Democratic Unionist party has inadvertently edged Britain towards a soft Brexit deal, political leaders in Ireland have said.
Ireland’s prime minister said he was delighted with the deal because it not only delivered an invisible border with Northern Ireland but the DUP clause had unexpectedly delivered a new promise of barrier-free trade between the whole of Ireland and the UK in the event of no deal.
Leo Varadkar pledged that May would have “no closer friend” in the next stage of negotiations on the back of the agreement on the Irish border.
He said it was in Ireland’s interest to help Britain get a deep and ambitious deal because Ireland wanted to preserve the £50bn-a-year trade it does with the UK, its biggest export partner.
He admitted Anglo-Irish relations had been damaged by the fractious negotiations over Brexit but believes that can be quickly repaired.
“I’ll be very frank. Brexit, by its nature, has strained relations between Ireland and the UK. Of course it has. How could it not? Our role now is to get through that.
“I actually think because of this agreement that we have today, because we have the guarantees and the assurances that we sought, Britain will have no closer friend than Ireland,” he said.
He confirmed that under the deal there would be no cameras, customs checks or patrols on the border, something he said everyone north and south of the border should appreciate as a major achievement in the Brexit negotiations.
The 15-paragraph Irish deal also guarantees the Good Friday agreement will continue in all its parts, allows border communities to continue to access EU funding, and means anyone in Northern Ireland opting for Irish citizenship will continue to have rights as EU citizens.
The leader of Ireland’s opposition, who is in a confidence and supply agreement with Varadkar’s Fine Gael government, went further.
“From the British perspective, it seems to me we are edging towards a soft Brexit, something the Brexiteers may not want to hear, but there are certain realities dawning,” said Micheál Martin, leader of the Fianna Fáil party.
The view in Dublin is that the DUP deal has inadvertently landed Britain on soft Brexit territory and closed off the cliff-edge scenario with WTO tariffs and barriers.
Sources point to the addition of paragraph 50, which pledges “no new regulatory barriers develop between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom” in the event of no deal.
It was added since Monday at the request of the British, not the Irish, to address the fears of the DUP leader, Arlene Foster, that Ireland was trying to float off from the the rest of the UK and force the region into a united Ireland.
One informed Westminster source said Ireland had played a clever game and both May and Varadkar had played the DUP to their advantage.
“The Irish government never wanted any east-west sea border, which would have been disastrous for its own economy, but has cleverly used the issue and the DUP to completely outmanoeuvre the UK government to get full alignment with the single market and customs union on the island of Ireland.”
Foster welcomed the deal, saying it met her demand that there “would be no red line down the Irish sea”.
The Dublin view is that paragraph 50 combined with paragraph 49 actually delivers a better deal than the one they had agreed on Monday because it will force Britain to align its trading and standards rules with both Northern Ireland and Ireland, a member of the EU, post-Brexit.
Informed sources say the Dublin view is that the two paragraphs combined more or less close down the possibility of the UK operating under WTO rules andinstead apply a regime very close to the existing rules.
They confirmed that Friday’s deal was a political commitment and not a guarantee, and could be reversed.
However, once it is signed off by EU leaders next week, it will become the official framework for the guidelines for phase two talks.
One source said EU27 support for Ireland’s position had been “rock solid” and the British has underestimated that unity.
The deputy prime minister, Simon Coveney, hailed the deal as a relief for everyone in the country” while Fianna Fáil’s Martin said Northern Ireland now had an opportunity to lift itself from decades of economic poverty.
“There is a sense now that Northern Ireland might get the best of both worlds … Northern Ireland hasn’t done that well historically. It could do with a break,” he said.
Sammy Wilson, a DUP MP, claimed that the Irish government’s desire for Northern Ireland to remain in the single market “is gone”.
Sinn Féin’s leader in Northern Ireland, Michelle O’Neill, said she and her party would be talking later on Friday to Varadkar as well as Theresa May. O’Neill said Sinn Féin wanted to see “the protection of Ireland’s interests” in Brexit negotiations.
The rival nationalist party in Northern Ireland, the SDLP, said the deal signalled there was a “soft Brexit” on the way.
Ireland's leaders say deal shows Britain is edging towards soft Brexit
PM says he is delighted with agreement and promises ‘Britain will have no closer friend than Ireland’ in next stage of talks
Leo Varadkar said relations had been damaged by the fractious negotiations but could be quickly repaired. Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters
Lisa O'Carroll in Dublin and Henry McDonald in Belfast
Friday 8 December 2017 15.41 GMTLast modified on Friday 8 December 2017 15.43 GMT
The Irish border deal hammered out after objections from the Democratic Unionist party has inadvertently edged Britain towards a soft Brexit deal, political leaders in Ireland have said.
Ireland’s prime minister said he was delighted with the deal because it not only delivered an invisible border with Northern Ireland but the DUP clause had unexpectedly delivered a new promise of barrier-free trade between the whole of Ireland and the UK in the event of no deal.
Leo Varadkar pledged that May would have “no closer friend” in the next stage of negotiations on the back of the agreement on the Irish border.
He said it was in Ireland’s interest to help Britain get a deep and ambitious deal because Ireland wanted to preserve the £50bn-a-year trade it does with the UK, its biggest export partner.
He admitted Anglo-Irish relations had been damaged by the fractious negotiations over Brexit but believes that can be quickly repaired.
“I’ll be very frank. Brexit, by its nature, has strained relations between Ireland and the UK. Of course it has. How could it not? Our role now is to get through that.
“I actually think because of this agreement that we have today, because we have the guarantees and the assurances that we sought, Britain will have no closer friend than Ireland,” he said.
He confirmed that under the deal there would be no cameras, customs checks or patrols on the border, something he said everyone north and south of the border should appreciate as a major achievement in the Brexit negotiations.
The 15-paragraph Irish deal also guarantees the Good Friday agreement will continue in all its parts, allows border communities to continue to access EU funding, and means anyone in Northern Ireland opting for Irish citizenship will continue to have rights as EU citizens.
The leader of Ireland’s opposition, who is in a confidence and supply agreement with Varadkar’s Fine Gael government, went further.
“From the British perspective, it seems to me we are edging towards a soft Brexit, something the Brexiteers may not want to hear, but there are certain realities dawning,” said Micheál Martin, leader of the Fianna Fáil party.
The view in Dublin is that the DUP deal has inadvertently landed Britain on soft Brexit territory and closed off the cliff-edge scenario with WTO tariffs and barriers.
Sources point to the addition of paragraph 50, which pledges “no new regulatory barriers develop between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom” in the event of no deal.
It was added since Monday at the request of the British, not the Irish, to address the fears of the DUP leader, Arlene Foster, that Ireland was trying to float off from the the rest of the UK and force the region into a united Ireland.
One informed Westminster source said Ireland had played a clever game and both May and Varadkar had played the DUP to their advantage.
“The Irish government never wanted any east-west sea border, which would have been disastrous for its own economy, but has cleverly used the issue and the DUP to completely outmanoeuvre the UK government to get full alignment with the single market and customs union on the island of Ireland.”
Foster welcomed the deal, saying it met her demand that there “would be no red line down the Irish sea”.
The Dublin view is that paragraph 50 combined with paragraph 49 actually delivers a better deal than the one they had agreed on Monday because it will force Britain to align its trading and standards rules with both Northern Ireland and Ireland, a member of the EU, post-Brexit.
Informed sources say the Dublin view is that the two paragraphs combined more or less close down the possibility of the UK operating under WTO rules andinstead apply a regime very close to the existing rules.
They confirmed that Friday’s deal was a political commitment and not a guarantee, and could be reversed.
However, once it is signed off by EU leaders next week, it will become the official framework for the guidelines for phase two talks.
One source said EU27 support for Ireland’s position had been “rock solid” and the British has underestimated that unity.
The deputy prime minister, Simon Coveney, hailed the deal as a relief for everyone in the country” while Fianna Fáil’s Martin said Northern Ireland now had an opportunity to lift itself from decades of economic poverty.
“There is a sense now that Northern Ireland might get the best of both worlds … Northern Ireland hasn’t done that well historically. It could do with a break,” he said.
Sammy Wilson, a DUP MP, claimed that the Irish government’s desire for Northern Ireland to remain in the single market “is gone”.
Sinn Féin’s leader in Northern Ireland, Michelle O’Neill, said she and her party would be talking later on Friday to Varadkar as well as Theresa May. O’Neill said Sinn Féin wanted to see “the protection of Ireland’s interests” in Brexit negotiations.
The rival nationalist party in Northern Ireland, the SDLP, said the deal signalled there was a “soft Brexit” on the way.
Englands difficulty has ALWAYS been Irelands opportunity....oiche mhaith x