Why a cup of Irish tea could be on cards for Juncker
AN Irishwoman who sent an oversized thank-you card to Jean-Claude Juncker has revealed that she invited the European Commission president around for tea.
During Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s Brussels trip on Wednesday, Mr Juncker unveiled a large card sent to him by a woman named Hailey with ‘Thank You from Ireland’ emblazoned on the front.
The sender was yesterday revealed to be Clare woman Hailey Kierse, who said she told Mr Juncker in the card that she wanted to kiss him for his support for Ireland in Brexit talks and invited him round to tea.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Liveline yesterday, Ms Kierse said that she sent the card shortly after the UK parliament voted to renegotiate the Irish backstop with the EU, to which Mr Juncker replied that the Irish border was a European border.
In the card, Ms Kierse also invited Mr Juncker around for cup a tea, but there is no word yet if he will take her up on the offer.
She told Joe Duffy yesterday: ‘I was worried at the time when Britain was talking about going back to renegotiate, I was afraid that Ireland would be made to give in.
‘So [when Mr Juncker] stood up and said, “Ireland’s borders are Europe’s borders”, as I said in my card, I literally wanted to jump for joy and kiss him.
‘Because I knew at that point we had the support of Europe and nothing was going to change.’
Ms Kierse said she is not a political person and has no agenda, adding that she didn’t think the letter would be made public. She signed off the card from herself, her husband Dave, and their two dogs. ‘It was literally just one person saying thank you,’ said Ms Kierse. ‘Anyone that knows me knows I am big on thank-you cards and cards for everything. I happened to make it giant only because I am kind of that type of person.’
In the card, she said that ‘for the first time Ireland is stronger than Britain’ because of the support from the EU and she reiterated that point on the show.
‘I feel we are because we are part of something bigger, Britain is choosing to leave from that something bigger,’ she said yesterday.