Bordering on a breakthrough
Hopes rise that May will seal deal with EU in Brussels Dublin optimistic but DUP treads cautiously
THE Prime Minister is due to fly to Brussels today as a Brexit deal over the Irish border appeared close to being sealed late last night.
European Council president Donald Tusk (right) was expected to make a statement early this morning, although DUP sources urged caution against the growing sense of optimism.
Arlene Foster’s party torpedoed Monday’s proposed border deal, but a tweaked text aimed at getting the DUP on board was passed back and forth across the Irish Sea last night.
“We are still working with the Government,” a party insider said. “Talks are continuing but what is most important is that we take our time and get it right rather than rush the situation.”
Dublin sources described the situation as “positive” but warned against complacency.
Theresa May is under intense pressure to get an agreement so that the negotiations can move onto trade talks.
THERESA MAY is poised to fly to Brussels today amidst hopes that the Irish border issue could finally be resolved in the Brexit talks.
European Council president Donald Tusk is due to make a statement at 6.50am, before the London Stock Exchange opens.
While hopes were high in Dublin last night that an agreement was close on new wording on how to deliver a soft border, senior DUP sources cautioned against over-optimism.
“We are still working with the Government,” a party insider said. “Talks are continuing but what is most important is that we take our time and get it right rather than rush the situation.”
The DUP team, led by Westminster leader Nigel Dodds, was locked in talks in the Cabinet Office with the Prime Minister’s officials.
After Arlene Foster’s party torpedoed Monday’s deal, a tweaked text aimed at getting the DUP on board was passed back and forth across the Irish Sea last night.
It is understood the new text does retain key elements demanded by Dublin in order to ensure “regulatory alignment” between the Republic and Northern Ireland after Brexit.
Irish officials see the assurances as a “safety net” in case the final deal between London and Brussels results in a hard Brexit.
But the new text under consideration also now offers reassurance that the regulatory alignment proposed won’t undermine Northern Ireland’s constitutional position within the UK, Dublin sources said.
The DUP believe that Monday’s text would have effectively created a border in the Irish Sea.
A spokesperson for Taoiseach Leo Varadkar declined to give any details of the proposed additions to the text. “Matters are being considered as part of ongoing discussions
involving the [EU negotiating] task force, the Irish government and the British Government,” he said. Dublin sources described the situation as “positive” but warned that there was no room for complacency. European Commission
president Jean-Claude Junker discussed the situation with Mrs May and Mr Varadkar in separate phone calls.
Mr Juncker’s spokesman said: “We are making progress but not yet fully there.
“Talks are continuing throughout the night.”
Mrs May is under intense pressure to get an agreement so that Thursday’s EU summit can give the green light to begin stage two of the negotiations and move onto trade talks.
EU sources say the final deadline on an agreement for a deal between the London and Brussels is late Sunday evening or early Monday morning.
It is understood Ms May’s Europe advisor Olly Robbins has been in constant contact with Sabine Weyand, who works for the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier, to agree the final wording of the settlement — specifically around the vexed issue of the border.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson
yesterday warned that extensive regulatory alignment between the UK and EU is unacceptable and any Brexit deal must stick to the spirit of the Leave campaign.
“Whatever way we devise for getting on to the body of the talks, it’s got to be consistent with the whole of the UK taking back control of our laws, of our borders and of our cash,” he said.
Meanwhile, Tanaiste Simon Coveney maintained that any new proposals from the UK must retain “the core meaning of the text on which we had agreement on Monday”.
“The Irish Government has acted in a way that has been consistent for months now and we do not intend to move away from that position,” he said.
The DUP wasn’t the only political party in Northern Ireland where “genuine concerns” about Brexit must be listened to, he added.
Mr Coveney accepted that London “is trying to move this process forward in good faith”.
“We want to work with it rather than against it on that, but Ireland has real concerns which are important to the country and its future, and to the island and in future,” he said.
DUP MEP Diane Dodds said: “What is required from everyone in this process is a positive attitude and a determination to achieve an outcome that is acceptable to all sides.
“We will continue to ensure the constitutional and economic integrity of the UK is maintained and that we do not want to see a
return to the borders of the past with the Republic.”
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood wrote to Mrs May warning her not to isolate the majority in Northern Ireland who voted to Remain and saying all parties’ views should be reflected.
“Arlene Foster is not the First Minister of Northern Ireland. Nor is Michelle O’Neill the Joint First Minister,” he said.
“Both the DUP and Sinn Fein abdicated those rights when they decided to call time on the talks’ process.
“The SDLP stands firm, we want to maintain membership of the single market and customs union.
“That is the only way to prevent a hard border on this island.”
UUP leader Robin Swann also wrote to the Prime Minister making clear that any measures creating new barriers between Northern Ireland and Britain would directly contradict the Good Friday Agreement and be resisted.
The SDLP stands firm, we want to maintain membership of the single market and customs union