This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/feb/12/irish-pm-to-raise-brexit-border-concerns-in-talks-with-may

The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Irish PM to raise Brexit border concerns in talks with May Brexit: Varadkar and May to work on plan for frictionless Irish border
(about 3 hours later)
Dublin fears UK is trying to wriggle out of its commitments to an invisible border Leaders of Ireland and UK seek deal that does not need Northern Ireland to be in single market
Lisa O'Carroll Brexit correspondentLisa O'Carroll Brexit correspondent
Mon 12 Feb 2018 13.45 GMT Mon 12 Feb 2018 19.31 GMT
Last modified on Mon 12 Feb 2018 15.22 GMT First published on Mon 12 Feb 2018 13.45 GMT
Share on FacebookShare on Facebook
Share on TwitterShare on Twitter
Share via EmailShare via Email
View more sharing optionsView more sharing options
Share on LinkedInShare on LinkedIn
Share on PinterestShare on Pinterest
Share on Google+Share on Google+
Share on WhatsAppShare on WhatsApp
Share on MessengerShare on Messenger
CloseClose
Ireland’s taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, is expected to express concerns that the British government is trying to wriggle out of its commitments to an invisible border when he meets Theresa May in Belfast on Monday afternoon. Theresa May and Leo Varadkar are to work together to come up with a new plan on how to achieve a frictionless Irish border after Brexit that does not involve the EU demanding Northern Ireland stays in the customs union and single market.
Dublin is concerned that Brexiters in the Conservative party are trying to persuade May to row back on her commitment to the deal agreed in December that allowed for “full regulatory alignment” between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. But speaking to reporters after bilateral talks in Belfast, the taoiseach admitted that achieving this was the “tricky bit” in Brexit talks.
The bilateral talks have been arranged as part of the latest attempt to restore power-sharing in Northern Ireland, but Brexit is also high on the agenda. “The two governments are very much of the view that the agreement that was made back in December stands,” Varadkar said.
Varadkar told RTÉ he needed clarity from the British government about how it would translate the December deal into legal language in the draft withdrawal agreement that is due to be completed within weeks. He was speaking days after Michel Barnier, the EU’s Brexit negotiator, said it “was important to tell the truth” and that the UK’s stated intent to leave the customs union and single market meant border checks would be “unavoidable”.
“The difficult part, and it was always going to be the difficult part, in phase two is the commitments and guarantees around the avoidance of a hard border,” Varadkar said. “What we’re trying to do … is ensure that what was agreed in December is now stitched into the legal text of the withdrawal agreement.” Brussels and London sealed a deal on the Irish border in December with three options: an overall agreement that would allow frictionless borders between the UK and all its frontiers with the EU, a bespoke arrangement for Ireland, and in the event of a no-deal scenario or hard Brexit, a guarantee of “full alignment” north and south of the border, which would effectively mean Northern Ireland remaining in the customs union and single market.
Britain’s first position paper on the Irish border, published last August, proposed customs exemptions for small businesses and pre-clearance for large traders as a way of avoiding “physical border infrastructure and border posts” or electronic surveillance. Barnier confirmed the wording for the third option was being drafted for the legally binding withdrawal agreement that the UK must reach in order to move to talks about a transition period or the future relationship.
However, critics said the proposals failed to take account of cross-border issues such as healthcare, car insurance and agrifood standards that are affected by EU legislation and the Good Friday agreement. Varadkar said: “We both prefer option A as the best option by which we can avoid any new barriers [on the] border in Ireland, and that is through a comprehensive customs and trade agreement involving Britain and Ireland.
Sources say British negotiators did not come round to the Brussels and Irish position until the week before the December deal. That commitment now appears to be under threat. “They seem to have gone back to their August position paper,” said one source in Dublin. “That is the best way we can avoid any new barriers, north and south, and also east and west, and we have agreed to work together at official levels to see if we can explore solutions to see how that can be achieved in the coming weeks and months.
Varadkar is expected to remind May that the December deal included a “no backsliding” commitment obliging both sides to convert the joint report into a draft treaty by March. “The best solution is not ‘backstop’, as I call it, [or] the ‘last resort’, as Theresa May calls it, but option A, ensuring we can have a new relationship between [the] UK and the EU.”
The agreement in December laid out three options for the border. The first two centred on the prospect of an overall UK/EU deal that would obviate the need for any special arrangements for Northern Ireland or a bespoke arrangement for the region. Sources in Dublin have expressed concern that Brexiters in the Conservative party are trying to persuade May to row back on her commitment to the deal agreed in December that allowed for “full regulatory alignment” between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.
In the event that neither of these were available, then both sides agreed to full regulatory alignment. It is this third option only that is now being legally codified in Brussels and which awaits agreement from London. Britain’s first position paper on the Irish border, published last August, proposed customs exemptions for small businesses and preclearance for large traders as a way of avoiding “physical border infrastructure and border posts” or electronic surveillance.
Michael D’Arcy, Ireland’s minister of state for finance, public expenditure and reform, said: “The UK government has given the undertaking and their word in December on a number of issues and they will be expected to honour that. The knew when they gave that commitment that the withdrawal bill must reflect that full regulatory alignment.” “We think they are going back to the August position,” one Dublin source said.
The Irish senator Neale Richmond said: “We are wondering why are we going back to where we were at some months ago. [Those negotiations] are not going to be reopened and the internal machinations of the Tory party is a bit of a sideshow.” Opponents to the August paper said the proposals did not go far enough and failed to take account of 142 cross-border issues such as healthcare, car insurance and agrifood standards that are affected by EU legislation and the Good Friday agreement.
Michael D’Arcy, an Irish finance minister, said: “The UK government has given the undertaking and their word in December on a number of issues and they will be expected to honour that. The knew when they gave that commitment that the withdrawal bill must reflect that full regulatory alignment.”
Neale Richmond, an Irish senator, said: “We are wondering why are we going back to where we were at some months ago. [Those negotiations] are not going to be reopened and the internal machinations of the Tory party is a bit of a sideshow.”
BrexitBrexit
IrelandIreland
Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland
Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar
Theresa MayTheresa May
European UnionEuropean Union
newsnews
Share on FacebookShare on Facebook
Share on TwitterShare on Twitter
Share via EmailShare via Email
Share on LinkedInShare on LinkedIn
Share on PinterestShare on Pinterest
Share on Google+Share on Google+
Share on WhatsAppShare on WhatsApp
Share on MessengerShare on Messenger
Reuse this contentReuse this content