MAJOR BREXIT PROTEST IN MARKET SQUARE REJECTS ‘BORIS’
PROTEST BY BORDER COMMUNITIES AGAINST BREXIT LOBBY GROUP
There was a cold shoulder for ‘Boris Johnson’ the British Foreign Minister from anti-Brexit protestors at Market Square last week.
The protest, organised by the lobby group ‘Border Communities Against Brexit’ also included a segment of street theatre as ‘Boris’ was searched by customs officials.
The protest was led by Louth TD Gerry Adams who was joined Councillor Ruairí Ó Murchú, and a number of other local councillors including Cllr. Anne Campbell, Cllr Antion Watters and Cllr.Edel Corrigan.
The protest highlighted comments by Boris Johnson which described crossing the border as similar to travelling through different boroughs in London.
Speaking afterward Deputy Gerry Adams urged the Irish government to ‘ take a tougher stance to ensure that the British government honour the backstop agreement on the customs union and the single market.’
‘Last December the Irish people were told by the Taoiseach that the so-called backstop arrangement was a guarantee that there would be no hard border and that the interests of citizens in the north, the majority of whom voted against Brexit, would be protected.’
He added: ‘ We were told we had a castiron guarantee that there would be no hard border on our island. We were told that this draft agreement would be converted into a legally binding text. It didn’t happen.’
The Louth TD added: ‘We were also told that the December agreement would be enshrined in a legal text and that the British had to produce firm proposals for today’s EU summit. It didn’t happen.’
He argued that the Irish government ‘should not allow the talks to proceed without agreement at the EU summit on the border and the backstop arrangement.’
Deputy Adams warned that Brexit presents ‘ a massive threat to our two economies and to the Good Friday Agreement.’
‘ The Irish people need certainty on no hard border. That certainty can best be found if the north is given a special status that keeps it within the single market and customs union.’
Meanwhile Taoiseach Leo Varadkar reiterated that he was ‘not preparing for any sort of physical border’ between Northern Ireland and the Republic and trusted the assurances of the UK and the EU that it won’t happen.
He spoke after attending the meeting of leaders at the European Council summit in Brussels.
‘Ultimately, it’s in the interests of Ireland; in the interests of the United Kingdom; in the interests of the European Union that we have an orderly Brexit and a new relationship that works for everyone.
So, that’s what we are going to try and do over the next couple of months. We are going to intensify our efforts to come to a withdrawal agreement.’