Wemust retain moral high ground on Border

THE promotion of Simon Coveney to Tánaiste is a welcome move and will strengthen the Government’s hand in the run-up to crucial decisions on Brexit. His ministerial colleague Michael Creed has said the talks are at a critical juncture and it is “squeaky bum time”. The EU will shortly decide if enough progress has been made on its three conditions to allow talks to move to the next stage of negotiations, which will deal with trade. Progress has been made on the final divorce bill as the UK is now ready to stump up more than the initial £20bn (€23bn) it offered, while agreement is closer on the future of EU citizens in Britain and UK citizens in the EU.

But the ‘Irish question’ continues to dog progress. The Government is right to hold out for significant movement on the Border issue, which is of existential importance to Ireland. This is a far bigger political test for Leo Varadkar than the sorry events that caused Frances Fitzgerald’s resignation on Tuesday.

There are increasingly antagonistic noises coming from London and Belfast, where a narrative is emerging that Dublin is being intransigent and that it is threatening to use a veto to prevent talks moving forward.

The DUP’s Ian Paisley Jr has called on the British government to make life hard for Ireland over Brexit and “shake their cage”. The Republic, he said, should “start acting in a mature way”.

Meanwhile, East Antrim MP Sammy Wilson warned that any British government proposal to “placate Dublin and the EU” would mean the end of the DUP’s agreement to prop up Theresa May’s Conservative administration.

Some UK tabloids have been jingoistic about Ireland. It would serve ministers well to remember the words of Michelle Obama about how to respond when opponents are at their cruellest: “When they go low, we go high.”