Leo Varadkar warns Britian and EU: Ireland needs a border deal - soon
Irish citizens and businesses need a deal on Brexit in October, insists Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.
He said that if the EU does not shift its stance in the Brexit talks on the border, Britain would have to change its position.
His comments, at an informal summit of EU leaders in Salzburg, came ahead of a bilateral meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May today.
With just weeks before a deadline for agreement on a withdrawal deal, the last piece of the agreement hangs on preventing a new border in the North.
Mr Varadkar told reporters last night it was not the case that progress had been made between the sides in recent weeks.
I don’t think we are closer to a withdrawal agreement than we were in March. I can’t report any progress at this stage unfortunately but we will keep working on it.
Mr Varadkar said the position of the EU and Ireland is that they both want a deal, a transition period, but also have to have a backstop that is legally operable.
Unfortunately, Britain is yet to present its text, he said, warning that Ireland and the EU want a deal in October, when EU leaders formally meet in Brussels.
As of now we haven’t made any progress. But we are going to keep working on it. It is my view that we should work towards having an agreement in principle in October. I wouldn’t like to see it run in November or December because that would create a lot of uncertainty for businesses and citizens too.
Asked what would happen if the EU does not budge on its position on the border issue, he said: “Well, then the United Kingdom will have to.”
With just weeks to go to the deadline, Mr Varadkar believes there will be some deal. Ireland is preparing for all eventualities, he said.
“I don’t believe a no-deal scenario is where we are heading. Certainly Ireland is prepared for it, we have already started the process of hiring hundreds of people to staff our ports and airports. We have also started to recruit the IT system, the infrastructure that may need to go into place. And I want to emphasise that is in the ports and the airports for east-west trade, we are not making any preparations for any form of hard border between North and South.
“Ireland would very much suffer in a no-deal scenario. We don’t want that to happen. I think the UK would suffer a lot as well. That’s why we need to redouble our efforts, aim to have an agreement in principle in October.”
