Short-term gains put peace process at risk

THE notion that there is a creeping move on to dismantle the Good Friday Agreement by stealth needs to be confronted. Brexit cannot become a battering ram for agendas that could drive us backwards into the darkness of the past. Any opportunistic stratagems solely aimed at undermining or destabilising the landmark international agreement have to be stopped in their tracks.

Two decades of peace cannot be jeopardised for some narrow, short-term political advantage. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar spelled out the dangers yesterday succinctly. “What you have at the moment is a British government that is dependent on one party in Northern Ireland for its survival. That creates an environment that is sub-optimal.”

He might have left it at that, but such are the inherent risks that the Taoiseach chose to stick his neck out diplomatically speaking, by stressing: “The Good Friday Agreement (GFA) is very clear. It says the sovereign government has to act with total impartiality. It is difficult for them to do so at the moment given that their government is dependent on one party in the North. That’s not a healthy place to be in but it’s the realpolitik.”

That Mr Varadkar felt it necessary to remind Theresa May’s government of its commitment to be objective and impartial as one of the custodians of the GFA suggests that there are real worries about the standing of the historic deal. This is hardly surprising given the uncertainties around Brexit, and Mrs May’s dependence on the DUP for her survival in government. On the other side of the Atlantic, Tánaiste Simon Coveney was also warning that Brexit cannot undermine the hard-won gains of the Northern Ireland peace process.

It came at far too high a price and took far too high a toll to be sacrificed at the altar of political artifice.