Leo: Clarify border position, Theresa
Taoiseach wants specifics on post-Brexit landscape
LEO Varadkar has urged Britain to be ‘more specific’ about the future relationship between the UK and Ireland after Brexit, following talks with Theresa May.
After a working lunch in No.10 Downing Street, the Taoiseach said insufficient progress has been made so far to allow starting negotiations on a post-withdrawal trade deal.
‘I have always encouraged the British government to be more specific about how they see the future relationship between Britain and Ireland and between the United Kingdom and the European Union,’ he said.
But Mr Varadkar stressed that there was still time for the situation to be resolved before the Meeting : Theresa May 27 remaining EU members make a decision on the matter in October.
He said: ‘I don’t think, at this stage, it would be possible to say that sufficient progress has yet been made, but it may well be possible by the end of October when we meet in Brussels.’
Mr Varadkar said that the decision would be shaped by the views of chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier. ‘Certainly, we will be very much guided by the report that Michel Barnier will make to the prime ministers and also the report that the European Parliament will make.’
He said Mrs May’s decision to rule out a hard border between the Republic and Northern Ireland was ‘very important’.
The promised absence of security and surveillance posts ‘is more than saying you don’t want a return to the borders of the past,’ he said outside No.10 Downing Street after his meeting with the prime minister.
Yesterday, in Downing Street, he declared that both governments were ‘very much committed to protecting the institutions of Northern Ireland, to protecting the Common Travel Area and that the free trade arrangements between Ireland and the UK and also with Europe should continue.’
Asked about specifics in Mrs May’s Florence speech about Ireland, other than a reference to having ‘no physical infrastructure’ on the Border, Mr Varadkar said: ‘I have always encouraged the British government to be more specific about the future relationship between Britain and Ireland and between the UK and the EU.
‘One thing which was included in her speech was the fact Britain will not seek any physical infrastructure on the border.
To me that is very important, that is more than saying you don’t want a return to the borders of the past. So in my view that is a very strong statement.
‘Of course I pointed out that the best way to achieve that is for the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland to stay in some form of a customs union and some form of a single market.’
‘That is a decision we will make collectively as the 27 member states and I will discuss this with colleagues on Thursday.’
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