Irish ministers have repeated warnings they are ‘resolute’ about blocking a Brexit deal if Britain does not back down over the Irish border.
There are just days remaining to find a solution to the deepening stand off before Theresa May meets EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to discuss a draft divorce agreement.
Britain has insisted it is impossible to finalise how the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic will work before UK-EU trade talks.
But Dublin wants guarantees now before it gives permission alongside other EU nations for trade talks even to begin at December’s EU council.
EU negotiator Michel Barnier today said the ‘moment of truth’ was approaching as he repeated his call for ‘real, sufficient progress’ on Ireland and other divorce issues.
Ireland’s Minister for European Affairs Helen McEntee and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney have both warned Britain Ireland is ‘resolute’ in its demands for answers
There are just days remaining to find a solution to the deepening stand off before Theresa May (pictured at church with husband Philip yesterday) meets EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to discuss a draft divorce agreement
Ireland’s Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney dismissed a claim from Ukip that Ireland was threatening the UK, but insisted that his country must be protected in the Brexit process.
He said: ‘Ireland is not threatening anybody, least of all a friend, but we remain resolute in our insistence on a sensible way through Brexit that protects Ireland.’
Dublin has said that if either the whole of the UK or just Northern Ireland remains in the single market and customs union then there would be no problem with maintaining the current soft border arrangements – a proposal ruled out by the Prime Minister.
Irish European Affairs Minister Helen McEntee acknowledged that some of the final details would have to be dealt with in the next phase of Brexit talks.
But she warned the UK must come forward with further proposals now to achieve the aim of maintaining a soft border.
Ms McEntee told Channel 4 News: ‘If all of the options that we feel can make that possible have been taken off the table then we need them to produce something else that will give us confidence, moving into phase two, that this can actually be achieved.
‘To date this has not happened.’
Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern has suggested the only solution is to introduce technology to manage multinational trade while turning a blind eye to lower-level cross-frontier movement.
That is essentially the proposal forwarded by the UK in its position paper on the border earlier this year.
Mr Ahern told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘Theresa May, take her at her word, she’s confidently said she doesn’t want a physical border, the EU don’t want a physical border, the Irish Government don’t.
EU negotiator Michel Barnier (pictured today in Brussels) repeated his call for ‘real, sufficient progress’ on Ireland and other crucial divorce issues
‘So you’re left down with the one alternative – to make technology work in most cases and to throw a blind eye to those areas that can’t come in within technology.’
In a signal of the growing tension around the coming days, EU negotiator Michel Barnier today repeated his call for ‘real, sufficient progress’ on Ireland and other crucial divorce issues.
He said: ‘The moment of truth is approaching… and I really hope that will be the point where we will see real, sufficient progress on the conditions of our separation.
‘And that will allow me to recommend the opening up of the next two phases of negotiations, first of all on the transition period and then on the future relationship.’
Trade Secretary Liam Fox said the issue could not be finally resolved until trade talks with Brussels have progressed.
Mrs May has been given until December 4 to come up with further proposals on the divorce.
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
EU leaders must declare there has been ‘sufficient progress’ on the border, the Brexit divorce bill and citizens’ rights to give the green light to moving on to the next phase of negotiations.
International Trade Secretary Dr Fox said: ‘We don’t want there to be a hard border but the UK is going to be leaving the customs union and the single market.’
He told Sky News’s Sunday with Niall Paterson: ‘We have always had exceptions for Ireland, whether it’s in our voting rights, our rights of residence in the UK.
‘We have always accepted a certain asymmetry and that will have to be part of whatever agreement we come to with the European Union but we can’t come to a final answer to the Irish question until we get an idea of the end state.
‘And until we get into discussions with the EU on the end state that will be very difficult, so the quicker that we can do that the better and we are still in a position where the EU doesn’t want to do that.’
He blamed the European Commission’s ‘obsession’ with forging a closer union for the delays in the Brexit talks, which the UK hopes will move on to discussing trade after a meeting of EU leaders on December 14-15.
Any arrangement which appeared to give Northern Ireland a separate status would be strongly resisted by the DUP, whose 10 MPs are effectively keeping Mrs May in Downing Street after she lost her majority in the general election.
Trade Secretary Liam Fox (pictured in New Zealand yesterday) said the issue could not be finally resolved until trade talks with Brussels have progressed