Brexit deal will be as ‘profound as 1921 treaty’ – McGuinness

MEP Mairead McGuinness has warned that the post-Brexit treaty between the UK and the EU will have implications as profound as those of the 1921 Treaty for Ireland.

The vice-president of the European Parliament drew connections between the two events as she addressed the crowds at the l Béal na Bláth event in Co Cork to mark the 95th anniversary of the shooting of Michael Collins.

“If the shape of Brexit is a hard one, then the separation will be more definitive and absolute than anything envisaged by those involved in the foundation of the state, including Michael Collins,” said the Fine Gael politician.

On the UK proposals for a new future partnership with the EU, she said they “are more than the UK wanting to have its cake and eat it, it’s an attempt to have its cake and eat ours”.

“The UK has the capacity to stop this unwelcome development by remaining, at the very least, in the Customs Union,” she said.

Meanwhile, the IFA president Joe Healy said the principle of avoiding any physical border infrastructure between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland is positive.

However, he warned it is very difficult to see how this could operate in practice, given that the UK has stated it intends to operate its own independent customs and trade policy separate to the EU.

“If the UK insists on pursuing its own free-trade agreements, two divergent regimes would have to operate on the island and it is impossible to see how border checks could be avoided,” he said.

ICOS European affairs executive Alison Graham said the proposed ‘streamlined’ customs model would in fact result in a border.

The ICMSA’s John Comer said the UK’s aspirations on continuing trade along the current regime would be a “hard sell” to other Member States who would not have the same critical trade relationship.