Coveney is accused of ‘Brit-bashing’ by Wilson
DUP MP Sammy Wilson has accused the Tanaiste of being “belligerent, interfering and a Brit-bashing foreign minister” and said he was using Brexit as an “excuse to break up the UK”.
The MP’s comments come after Simon Coveney dismissed the idea of using technology as a solution to the Irish border problem on the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme yesterday.
He said Theresa May’s vision of a customs partnership — where the UK collects tariffs on behalf of Brussels — could provide the basis for negotiating a solution to the vexed problem of maintaining a free-flowing Irish border.
Mr Wilson said: “The belligerent, interfering, Brit-bashing foreign minister of the Irish Republic has once again taken to the airwaves to demand the breakup of the UK using the impact of Brexit on the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic as an excuse to break up the UK.”
He added: “The fact is that the border issues can all be dealt with by technology but Coveney and Co have stuck their heads in the sand, refusing to even consider this solution because it doesn’t suit his aggressive republican agenda.
“Instead he tried to flog his pig-in-a-poke solution to the EU negotiators and force it down the throat of the UK Government. “It won’t work.
“The IRA failed to dislodge Northern Ireland from the UK with bombs, Coveney won’t do it with Brexit.”
“The UK always has the option to walk away from these negotiations with no deal.
“That really would set the cat among the pigeons as far as the Irish economy is concerned because most of their exports to the UK would face huge tariffs, and of course the import substitution which would result would massively benefit Northern Ireland agriculture and food processing.
“Think about that Mr Coveney — it might cool your republican ardour.”
Mr Coveney said the UK had made a clear commitment in last December’s agreed UK/EU text that there would be no physical infrastructure on the border.
“That means we are not talking about cameras and scanning systems and drones here — it means we are talking about a political solution that allows for regulatory alignment in a way that prevents the need for border infrastructure,” he said.
He added: “We are simply asking that that commitment be followed through on.”
Mr Coveney said Brexit negotiations would face a “difficult summer” if the UK Government failed to honour its commitment to agreeing a “backstop” in the withdrawal treaty. The backstop would mean regulations between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic would continue to remain aligned after Brexit, even if a broader trading deal between the UK and EU failed to materialise.
This concept has alarmed unionists who believe it would end up creating trading barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, undermining the constitutional integrity of the kingdom.
Meanwhile, the TUC general secretary will say today that Brexiteers are “journeying deeper into fantasyland” with high tech border promises.
Backed by former First Minister Lord Trimble, the maximum facilitation — or ‘Max Fac’ — would rely on new technology and trusted trader schemes to get trade to flow smoothly with the EU after Brexit.
But the TUC’s Frances O’Grady is to tell an event in the Irish Embassy in London that ministers have failed to offer serious answers to the question of the Irish border. She will say that the kind of technology ministers are talking about “doesn’t exist anywhere in the world”.
“Instead of coming up with real solutions, the Brexiteers are journeying deeper into fantasyland, playing fast and loose with peace and prosperity across the island of Ireland,” she will say.
“It’s becoming clearer every day that if we want to avoid a hard border in Ireland, we need a customs union.
“And government should keep the single market on the table too.”