Ireland warned today is still needs ‘credible answers’ on how the border with Northern Ireland will work after Brexit with just three days until a draft deal is due.
Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said Dublin would not allow the status quo of a functioning, invisible border to be lost as a ‘by-product’ of Brexit.
But he said Britain was Ireland’s closest friend on the world stage and said negotiators on both sides were working hard to find a resolution.
Prime Minister Theresa May is due to meet EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker over a working lunch on Monday. If a draft deal is not in place it will make it unlikely EU leaders will agree to start trade talks at a summit in two weeks.
Foreign Minister Simon Coveney (pictured today in Dublin) said Ireland would not allow the status quo of an invisible border to be lost as a ‘byproduct’ of Brexit
Ireland has suggested leaving Northern Ireland in the customs union as the simple way of ensuring there is no hard border inside the island of Ireland
Mr Coveney’s latest intervention came as MPs in Westminster warned it appeared impossible to reconcile the Government’s decision to pull out of the single market and the customs union with its declared intention to maintain a ‘frictionless’ border.
The Brexit Committee said the Government’s proposals for dealing with the issue, including using technology to create a ‘light touch’ border, were ‘untested and to some extent speculative’.
Speaking in Dublin today, Mr Coveney said: ‘We are not looking for unnecessary friction in these negotiations between the Irish and British Governments.
‘We need to live together. We have a peace process that is 20 years old next year… we want an outcome that is good for Britain, good for Ireland and good for Northern Ireland.
‘That is why we are insisting in phase one of these negotiations we get more credible answers on how we are going to manage the border.
‘We have grown used to a border that is largely invisible… we have an all-island economy where we have agreed to cooperate.
‘It’s working. We can’t allow Brexit as a byproduct or unintended consequence to be undermining that relationship in the future.’
Hilary Benn (file image) and his Brexit committee today warned it appeared impossible to reconcile the Government’s decision to pull out of the single market and the customs union with its declared intention to maintain a ‘frictionless’ border
Mr Coveney said Dublin wanted a system that would allow free movement of people and goods – warning this meant minimising divergence in rules and regulations.
A possible solution involving sweeping new devolution to Belfast emerged yesterday.
It would allow Northern Ireland to closely follow EU rules while leaving the Brussels club with the rest of the UK.
Mr Coveney warned today an agreement was still not ready.
He said: ‘We can’t move to phase two without at least a more credible understanding of how we are going to solve the issues.
‘We believe our asks here are fair and they are deeply held views.
‘We want to work with the British Government to find a sensible wording that can allow us all to move on to phase two sooner rather than later.
‘Everybody recognises that there are three big issues… on Ireland there is still work to do.
‘We want to be positive in terms of how we approach that but we will also be insisting on there being no fudge here so we get some real, something credible that allows us to reassure the Irish people around the border issue.’
Britain has insisted it is impossible to finalise how the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic will work before UK-EU trade talks. Both sides want to avoid a hard border but neither has offered a mutually acceptable solution for customs controls
Brexit Committee chairman Hilary Benn, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘Ministers say they don’t want a border, they don’t want any infrastructure. We all agree with that, but we didn’t see, as a committee, how currently that can be reconciled with the Government’s decision to leave the customs union and the single market.
‘We call on the Government to set out more clearly how it is it thinks that this can work in practice, because it published its paper, which talks about two options – a highly streamlined customs arrangement … a new customs arrangement with the European Union.
‘It admits that its proposals are untested and at the moment it’s not clear how this might work. But this is of fundamental importance.’
He added: ‘Self-evidently, the Irish Government is not persuaded by what it has read so far.’