Government has begun preparing for a worst-case scenario as talks grow more tense

THE Government is engaging in “contingency planning” for a worst-case scenario on Brexit, as talks between the UK and EU become ever more “tense”.

The UK says it will leave the EU on March 29, 2019. While this is still “a long way off”, Britain’s position is getting “weaker and weaker”, said a source from Dublin, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“We’re doing contingency planning but not quite training dogs or checking out sites for customs posts at this stage,” they said.

For Ireland, delivering on the State’s priorities, of protecting the Good Friday Agreement, the common travel area and trade, is becoming increasingly difficult. Ireland is caught between EU member states, which are becoming less interested about the deeper impact of Britain’s withdrawal, and a disjointed, often delusional British government.

For the other 26 member states, and the EU as a whole, the loss of Britain is regrettable, but manageable.

Last week, a paper on the Government’s plan to create a special situation for Northern Ireland within a customs union arrangement, which would settle the Border issue, was deemed “impossible” by Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire.

If the UK crashes out, the implications for Ireland politically, economically and from a societal perspective, will be monumental.

Britain remains Ireland’s largest trading partner, with 17pc of our exports going to the UK. Around 110 million crossings took place between the UK and Ireland last year.

The protection of the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts is a key priority for the EU and Irish teams.

Without a deal, 20 years of

relative peace could be unravelled in moments.

The political environment in Northern Ireland is far from stable as things already stand. If Britain was to walk away from an EU deal, efforts to keep governance and co-operation in the North intact, amid such unprecedented chaos, could trigger serious upheaval and division.

A customs Border, obliging Ireland to apply tariffs, would also be the most immediate scenario. The question would then be whose force would be responsible for monitoring the demarcation line?

A third of Irish products destined for the EU mainland go through the UK, again creating major disorder for Ireland’s export market.

There are more than 100 areas in which Northern Ireland and the Republic co-operate on practical issues such as flood management, soil management, healthcare, lakes, and fish stocks. There are also practical matters like the use of ambulances in the case of an emergency where, for example, a person in Donegal may need to access A&E, but the closest hospital is in the UK.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said Ireland was still pushing for a Brexit outcome that would have the “closest possible trading relationship between the UK and the EU”.

Plenty within Europe will argue against this, as it will amount to the UK having its cake and eating it.

Speaking in Washington, at the Brookings Institution, Mr Donohoe also reiterated Ireland’s commitment to globalisation, the euro and Europe, and repositioned Ireland’s unique position as a “bridge” for trade between the US and EU, especially after Britain departs.

The Government is becoming increasingly frustrated by Britain’s lack of genuine effort to solve the Northern Ireland issue.

Sources say the British are far more concerned with appeasing the DUP, which is keeping Theresa May’s cabinet in power.

“Current proposals for dealing with the Border are not comprehensive enough, and I don’t think we have a credible pathway to ensuring that we maintain what is largely now an invisible Border,” said Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney in Brussels yesterday.

However, the head of employers group Ibec said he’s now more confident the UK will strike a practical Brexit deal, following a meeting with Mrs May and other top officials at Downing Street.

Ibec’s Danny McCoy was one of 13 representatives of the European business groups invited to the meeting yesterday, and remains optimistic.

If Britain was to walk away from an EU deal, efforts to keep governance and co-operation in the North intact could trigger serious upheaval