LATEST: Parts of the Good Friday Agreement may have to be rewritten, warns Blair
The former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has warned parts of the Good Friday Agreement may have to be rewritten to take account of Brexit.
He made the comments while addressing a meeting of Fine Gael's European Party, the EPP, in County Wicklow.
As he left the venue, he explained why the agreement would have to be reworded.
"Well there's bits of the Good Friday Agreement that specifically assume that Britain and the Irish Republic are in the European Union, so there's obviously changes of language, but I don't think it should mean a change of substance."
Former British prime minister Tony Blair has said that there is a consensus in Britain to minimise the effects of Brexit and any "potential disruption" as much as possible to the North,
Speaking after meeting MEPs and politicians from the European People's Party at a conference in Wicklow, the former Labour leader also said that it was important to try and keep the common travel area between Ireland and Britain.
Mr Blair, one of the architects of the Good Friday Agreement, said earlier this morning that a hard Brexit would be a disaster.
“I'm extremely anxious to make sure that Brexit does not impair that agreement, that we continue to have the closest possible agreement between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
“There are really difficult and important challenges in this. At the moment we have the common travel area where people can travel freely between North and South on the island of Ireland. This is vital to maintain.
“In addition, the open border between north and south, in terms of trade, has done an immense amount for UK-Irish trade and commercial relationships and obviously it is important that there will be difficult challenges in relation to this, that we safeguard that as much as possible and minimise any potential damage.
Former British PM Tony Blair tells media of importance to 'minimise damage' in trade & relations between North & South with #Brexit #Epp pic.twitter.com/cWcfKRCyuq
— Juno McEnroe (@Junomaco) May 12, 2017
“There is a real consensus across the British political system that we must do everything we possibly can to keep the present situation between the South and North as similar to what we have at the moment as we possibly can and do all we can to minimise any potential disruption.
"This is of vital importance for the economic relationship but also for the political relationships."
Politicians at the Wicklow meeting, including from Fine Gael, are also holding talks with EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, before the French man visits businesses and communities in the border area later today.
