BRITAIN ‘CAN BACKTRACK ON BREXIT BORDER DEAL’

Irish ‘will hold UK to pact’ as Davis sparks legal row

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar Brendan Howlin DUBLIN and London have clashed over whether or not the agreement intended to trigger trade talks is legally binding.

The dispute was sparked when British Brexit Secretary David Davis insisted it was more a statement of intent than “legally enforceable”.

The Irish Government responded strongly, stating the deal was “binding” and it would hold the UK “to account” on it.

The document on legacy issues like the border was hammered out in order to allow the remaining EU27 states to approve Brexit talks shifting to a phase two trade negotiation at a summit this week, at which Dublin wields a veto.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar heralded the last-minute deal – meant to prevent the return of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic – on Friday as “politically bullet-proof” and “cast iron”.

Chief whip Joe Mchugh branded the Brexit Secretary’s comments “bizarre”.

He told RTE: “We will as a sovereign Government in Ireland be holding the United Kingdom to account, as will the European Union.

“My question to anybody within the British government would be, ‘Why would there be an agreement, a set of principled agreements, in order to get to phase two if they weren’t going to be held up?’ That just sounds bizarre to me.

“This, as far as we’re concerned, is a binding agreement – an agreement in principle.” Mr Mchugh added the Government would not “back away” from the Brexit principles if it comes under pressure from the rest of the EU during trade talks with the UK. Meanwhile, talks could still derail, according to Labour, which said it was concerned with British politicians calling the preliminary agreements “meaningless” and “non-binding”.

Party leader Brendan Howlin said yesterday the UK needs to remember their “melodrama” is on public show and that to many it looks like they are “negotiating in bad faith”.

He added: “It is deeply disappointing to hear a number of comments over the weekend from cabinet ministers. Also to

DUBLIN YESTERDAY

read of officials briefing senior UK cabinet members that the agreement arrived at with the EU and Ireland was ‘meaningless’ and ‘not binding’ or had limited effect to a number of areas.

“I am well aware complex negotiations such as these are often subject to multiple interpretations – that is often the nature of such agreements, particularly when they are simply staging posts on the way to a comprehensive agreement.

“I am not so naive as to expect British ministers to publicly endorse An Taoiseach’s interpretation of the guarantees in relation to Ireland as ‘bulletproof ’.

“We must all remain focused on the endpoint of this process and premature declarations of victory or defeat are not just meaningless but counterproductive – on all sides.”

Why would there be an agreement if it was not being held up? Bizarre CHIEF WHIP JOE MCHUGH