Varadkar: Period of chaos after no-deal Brexit
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar says a no-deal Brexit would lead to a “period of chaos” which would need his Government, the EU, and Britain to figure out a solution.
He was speaking as the Central Bank warned that a disorderly Brexit scenario could lead to around 4% lower output in the first year. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mr Varadkar said a disorderly exit would cause a “major dilemma” which would need to be addressed to avoid a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and the North.
“If we found ourselves in a few weeks’ time in a no-deal scenario, we would face a major dilemma,” he said.
“Ireland has obligations to protect the single market — it’s our market, our jobs, our standards. Both the UK and Ireland would have a responsibility to honour the Good Friday Agreement and the peace process. So, I think we’d end up in a situation where the EU, Ireland, and the UK would have to come together in order to honour our commitments to the people of Ireland that there’d be no hard border and agree on full alignment on customs and regulations.”
Mr Varadkar said a “period of chaos” would result and the EU and Britain would most likely end up with a similar withdrawal agreement that is currently on the table but has been rejected by the British parliament.
“This is the best deal on offer for Britain and Ireland,” he said.
He reiterated that the Government can not accept a UK withdrawal deal that “doesn’t give us a legal binding working guarantee” on a Northern Ireland backstop.
“But we’ll keep working on this over the next couple of weeks and at the same time prepare for a no-deal scenario, should that arise.”
Mr Varadkar refused to be drawn on what Ireland would do if the European Commission told the Government to install a physical border in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
Mr Varadkar refused to be drawn on questions surrounding his briefing of Opposition leaders on Tuesday night, where the Taoiseach mentioned the prospects of border checks in Calais, France, and in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, that could affect Irish trade in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
Sources have said that the comments were made in passing and did not refer to a concrete plan being proposed by the European Commission.
Commenting on the likely impact of a no-deal Brexit, Mark Cassidy, the Central Bank’s director of economics and statistics, said: “A disorderly no-deal Brexit has the potential to significantly alter the path of the Irish economy in both the short and medium term, with a substantial and permanent loss of output.”
