Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Brexit will change island of Ireland more than the Rising
Irish MEP says Prime Minister’s plan will cause more division
BREXIT will change the Republic’s relationship with the UK more radically than the 1916 Easter Rising and partition, an Irish MEP said.
Vice-president of the European Parliament Mairead Mcguinness launched a broadside over Prime Minister Theresa May’s proposals for the split from Europe.
The Fine Gael representative said ideas on customs, trade and the border “are more than the UK wanting to have its cake and eat it, it’s an attempt to have its cake and eat ours”.
Hitting out at calls for Brexit to be used as a means for reuniting Ireland, she added: “That is misguided.
“The path to reunification is already set out in the Good Friday Agreement.” Ms Mcguinness said Brexit has the potential to impact more on Anglo-irish relations than Ireland’s War of Independence or the Declaration of the Republic in 1949.
She was speaking at the annual Beal na mblath commemoration in West Cork on the 95th anniversary of the killing of rebel leader Michael Collins.
She added: “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.” She said “another brick gets placed back in the border wall” every time there are calls for the UK to leave the customs union.
Ms Mcguinness called for a debate to take place in the Republic on the future of Europe.
She added: “We need to start looking beyond Brexit to what type of Europe we want to see in the future.
“Scepticism and indeed cynicism about the EU was certainly fuelled by the economic crisis. And mistakes were made giving rise to justifiable concerns among citizens which must be addressed in any discussion about the future of the EU.” Ms Mcguinness also raised concerns about the breakdown in power-sharing here.
She said: “Brexit has reopened hardly-healed wounds of division and deepened the polarisation of politics in Northern Ireland.
“The decision of the British Government to accept the support of the DUP to remain in power has added sharply to that polarisation.”