DUP slams suggestions of Irish sea boundary

Theresa May’s Democratic Unionist Party allies have hit out at suggestions that the Republic of Ireland wants the Irish Sea to effectively become the border with the UK after Brexit.

The DUP’S leader in the Commons, Nigel Dodds, said the party could not tolerate such a move, adding that the Prime Minister had “already reiterated this”.

The new Irish government under Leo Varadkar is unconvinced by the UK’S plans to use technology to maintain the soft border between Northern Ireland and the Republic – which will become the frontier with the European Union after Brexit.

Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney said the country “can’t support proposals resulting in border checkpoints”, adding that it was a UK decision to leave the EU and “we need imaginative solutions”.

Dublin’s preferred option is for customs and immigration checks to be located ports and airports, according to reports.

But Mr Dodds said that such a move would be unacceptable to the DUP, which the PM relies on to prop up her minority administration in the House of Commons.

A sea border “may give the Republic a special economic status within Northern Ireland but the heavy price would be new barriers to trade in the UK” for Northern Irish firms.”