Leo turns to the past to warn over Brexit risks
LEO Varadkar has shown EU leaders a newspaper article about the IRA bombing of a customs post to show the serious threat that Brexit poses.
At Wednesday night’s dinner at the European Summit in Brussels, the Taoiseach brought a copy of that day’s Irish Times, which featured an interview with a family member of one the bombing’s victims.
He told reporters later it was a ‘useful prop to demonstrate to all the European leaders the extent to which the concerns about the re-emergence of a hard border and the possibility of a return to violence are very real.’
He added: ‘I just wanted to make sure that there was no sense in the room that in any way anyone in the Irish Government was exaggerating the real risk of a return to violence in Ireland.’
Four customs officials, two lorry drivers and three IRA men died in the explosion at Newry customs clearing station in 1972.
The family of one of the lorry drivers said they fear Brexit could spark renewed violence along the border.
Jack McCann, from Co. Monaghan, died in the explosion, which was the worst attack on a Northern Ireland customs post during the Troubles.
Mr McCann’s daughter Mary Casey, who was 21 when her father died, spoke of her fear of border custom posts returning in the wake of a no-deal Brexit.
She told the newspaper that she believes there will be a hard border.
‘I don’t know how else it is going to work, to be honest. It would be scary,’ she said. ‘I imagine it is going back to the way it was.’
‘An awful lot of people around here wouldn’t know,’ she added, ‘You see, if Brexit brings the violence back, they will be younger and they will have no fear because they won’t remember.’
The Taoiseach also held a press conference yesterday in which he rejected British Eurosceptics’ claims that the North should be treated just like any other region of the UK.
Mr Varadkar said the idea that Northern Ireland is distinct from the UK is one of the ‘philosophical principles’ at the very heart of the Good Friday Agreement.
‘There are special arrangements for Northern Ireland. It’s the only part of the United Kingdom where there is compulsory power-sharing,’ he told a press conference in Brussels yesterday. ‘It’s the only part of the United Kingdom where people have the right to dual citizenship. And it’s the only part of the United Kingdom where there is a provision to allow people to join a different country should they choose to do so.
‘At the heart of the Good Friday Agreement is peace, consent and recognition that Northern Ireland is different.’
Mr Varadkar said he could understand Mrs Foster’s stance on the issue, but he was coming from ‘a slightly different position’.
In a bid to overcome this obstacle, Mrs May’s government is now pressing for a backstop that includes the whole of the UK in a ‘customs territory’, rather Northern Ireland on its own.
It is something that is under consideration by the EU, but the Taoiseach is highly sceptical of the proposal. He said: ‘I think there would be huge difficulties with that for the EU.’
The strong view among the EU is that any discussions on a UK-wide customs territory should be part of negotiations on the future relationship, which will only take place after a deal on the Withdrawal Agreement is done.
Mr Varadkar voiced concerns that any such provisions would fail in the necessary ratification vote in the European Parliament, as it would hand a commercial advantage to the UK.
‘I would feel very strongly about this as a European as well as an Irishman. You couldn’t have a situation whereby the UK had access to the single market – which is our market – and, at the same time, was able to undercut us,’ he said.
‘Brexit could spark renewed violence’ Taoiseach is highly sceptical