Ireland reliant on Britain to come up with solution to avoid hard border, Varadkar tells Dáil
Ireland is now completely reliant on Britain to come up with a solution to avoid a hard border, the Taoiseach has told the Dáil.
While Leo Varadkar has confirmed that the Government's proposals in the event of a hard Brexit are "no-longer contingency plans" and are now being implemented, he maintained that this does not involve checks along the Irish border.
Questioned about the Government's plans for the border if Britain crashes out of the EU, Mr Varadkar said it is now up to Westminster to "honour their commitment to us that there will be no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland by coming up with an alternative solution that does exactly what it needs to do".
"The ball is now very much in their court," he said.
It came after Tánaiste Simon Coveney was recorded telling Transport Minister Shane Ross that there is a likelihood of checks which "could be in the sea" but he added that "once you start talking about checks anywhere near the border people will start delving into that and all of a sudden we'll be the Government reintroducing a physical border on the island of Ireland".
Fianna Fáil leader Micheal Martin said the conversation was "deeply worrying" because "it suggests the public is not being told the full truth for party political reasons".
"I get the same sense at times with the Government not revealing the full details of its plans for a no-deal Brexit."
Mr Martin pressed the Taoiseach on whether Ministers have been instructed not to mention the possibility of border checks in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
Sinn Féin president Mary-Lou McDonald accused the Taoiseach of repeatedly skirting around the issue of border contingencies.
"The reality is that in the absence of a backstop, there will be a hard border and there will be checks. The Taoiseach has skated around this issue time and again.
Is it not now time to say out loud that in the absence of a deal, there will be a hard border and to reassert that this is an unacceptable, indeed, an unconscionable situation for us?
She said opposition party leaders had received a Brexit briefing from Mr Coveney on Tuesday evening but "the Tánaiste had nothing to say on contingency planning to protect our all-island economy, citizens rights and the Good Friday Agreement in the event of a crash Brexit."
Mr Varadkar said that the solution to avoid a hard border had been found and that is through the withdrawal agreement which was emphatically rejected by members of the House of Commons this week.
"It is now up to Westminster to come together and develop a solution to what it believes is a Brexit it can pass through the House of Commons," he said.
In terms of plans for checks, we are obviously now implementing the no-deal plans. It is no longer contingency planning; we are implementing our no-deal plans.
"That provides for checks at ports and airports in Dublin and Rosslare.
"We are not planning for checks along the land border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, nor are we planning for checks in the sea."
