Coveney slams ‘kindergarten stuff ’ from UK
TANAISTE Simon Coveney has hit out at anonymous EU sources who claimed the Republic could be economically cut adrift in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
Respected news agency Reuters quoted an EU diplomat saying: “But soon enough (the Republic) will have to face up to the fact that either there is a border on the island or a border between Ireland and the rest of the EU.”
Mr Coveney responded: “Unless there is a name behind a source and a quote then I’m suspicious of it.”
The Tanaiste still expects a deal but expressed frustration about the “kindergarten stuff ” coming from some quarters in the UK on the border. “It is incredible the British Parliament has allowed it come to this,” he said.
Irish officials last night saw Theresa May’s Commons defeat as a “little victory” for their cause in Europe.
“It shows the rest of Europe that this isn’t really about the backstop. For a month they have been saying it’s about the backstop but this vote wasn’t about that and they knifed her,” a source said.
Reuters yesterday reported a senior EU diplomat as saying the Republic would soon have to come up with a plan to ensure the integrity of the EU’s single market or face checks on its own goods coming into the rest of the bloc.
“Ireland can get transition periods or some temporary optouts on the border in the worstcase scenario,” the source added.
The comments were met with “suspicion” in Dublin where officials questioned the motive behind them. Separately EU sources said the comments would not have been sanctioned by the “key players” in Brussels.
And addressing the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday, Mr Coveney said EU capitals were in “no mood” to abandon the Republic at this stage.
“One of the big mistakes in London is the perspective that the EU needs a deal as much as we need a deal. That’s factually just not true,” he said.
“Those commitments (from Britain) still stand and we can’t just wipe the slate clean and have people make farcical arguments like ‘Well, you don’t want a border, we don’t want a border, the EU doesn’t want a border, so let’s just pretend it’s not a problem’.
“That’s kindergarten stuff.”