DUP are out of step on Brexit and must face reality, insists Sinn Fein president
SINN Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald has blasted the DUP’s stance on Brexit as “catastrophically wrong” and urged her DUP counterpart Arlene Foster to “wake up and smell the coffee”.
She was speaking in Belfast yesterday as pressure mounts on the DUP to accept the Prime Minister’s EU withdrawal agreement.
The DUP is unhappy that the deal will see Northern Ireland aligned with EU rules and remain part of the single market, with checks on some goods coming in from the UK to Northern Ireland, if the Brexit backstop is implemented.
The DUP has called for Theresa May’s proposals to be scrapped, despite Northern Ireland’s business and farming leaders broadly throwing their weight behind the deal and urging the party to back the draft plan.
Ms McDonald claimed it was clear the DUP had got it wrong on Brexit and said its position disregarded people’s livelihoods, job prospects and the stability of the peace process.
“The DUP have got it catastrophically wrong. They’re wrong about the draft agreement,” she said.
“It’s not perfect, but it is certainly a baseline to protect our economic interests and agreements.
“It’s now very clear right across Ireland, north and south, that the key voices from business, agriculture and other sectors are coming out and facing down the very negative politics advanced by the DUP and Tory Brexiteers.”
Issuing a direct message to Mrs Foster, Ms McDonald said: “Anyone who wishes to protect Ireland, north and south, needs
to get off their Brexiteer high horse, face reality and understand that the current agreement is what Brexit looks like. If I were
Arlene Foster I would wake up and smell the coffee, reassess my position and insist that the internal party wranglings within the DUP and Tory party cannot be allowed to drive any part of Ireland over the cliff.”
Ms McDonald continued: “Brexit isn’t a passing phenomenon — this is for keeps — and we are still in very dangerous and choppy waters.
“All of us, irrespective of our party political persuasion, have to behave like adults. This is grown-up politics and it’s about protecting people’s livelihoods and jobs and the entire island of Ireland.
“So rather than adopting the reckless strategy that they have, the DUP now needs to listen to wider society and come on board with the rest of us who are absolutely determined to protect Ireland and Irish people, north and south.
“Now is the time for cool heads to ensure that the bottom lines around no hard border, the protection of the Good Friday Agreement and crucially the protection of citizens’ rights are met.
“This is vital to protect everybody who lives and works on the island of Ireland,” she added.