EU intransigent on the backstop could backfire

Reading between the lines, Dublin’s own assessment is that the outcome from a no-deal Brexit could actually bring about what they fear most – the return of a hard border.

Irish backstop farce engineered by Irish PM Leo Varadkar and his deputy Simon Coveney (above)

By John Donovan

The duo representing Ireland in the Brexit negotiations have consistently insisted on the need for a backstop in the EU/UK Brexit withdrawal agreement to prevent any return to a hard border between the UK and the Irish Republic.

Britain has consistently stated that there will be no return on its account to a hard border.

Although the backstop issue is the main block to the withdrawal agreement being approved by the UK Parliament, the Irish have continued to insist on a cast iron backstop mechanism with no time limit.

It is only in recent days that alarm bells have started to ring in Dublin and elsewhere about how the EU intransigent on the backstop could spectacularly backfire. Matters that Coveney would prefer to keep secret have begun to seep out.

Extract from Irish Times Article

…when Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas told the daily press briefing in Brussels yesterday that in the event of a no-deal Brexit, “you will have a hard border” in Ireland, alarm bells sounded in Dublin.

Extract from The Guardian

The warning came a day after Irish police chiefs denied they had drawn up secret plans to send 600 officers to beef up border security if Britain crashes out of the EU on 29 March without an agreement.

Extracts end

Varadkar is now nervously warning about the prospect of British police and army checkpoints reappearing on the border in the event of a no-deal scenario.

Varadkar warns of army checkpoints on border after a no-deal Brexit

Chaotic Brexit could see uniformed border police, says Irish PM

Brexit: Soldiers may return to Irish Border, Varadkar warns

Reading between the lines, Dublin’s own assessment is that the outcome from a no-deal Brexit could actually bring about what they fear most – the return of a hard border.

This time with a mostly hostile population on the UK side of the border pissed off by Irish government unhelpful mischief in the exploitation of Brexit. How would that help those who dream of a United Ireland?

Varaskar has made plain his disdain for the democratic Brexit referendum vote and is trying to thwart the outcome. A reckless gamble that could indeed backfire badly, irrespective of the nationality of police or soldiers on the border.

If it ends up with forces in place on either side of the border, who knows what might happen, bearing in mind that terrorists could deliberately create an incident that could ignite a war. A potentially very dangerous scenario that could happen.

MORE RELATED INFORMATION

Extract from “Hundreds of gardai to patrol border in Ireland if UK crashes out of EU“

Hundreds of gardai to patrol border in Ireland if UK crashes out of EU“Abandoned from across the Channel and from across the Atlantic by the two great allies who in the previous century saved it twice from suicide; vulnerable to the increasingly overt manipulations of the master of the Kremlin, Europe as an idea, as will and representation, is coming apart before our eyes,”

EXTRACTS FROM RELATED ARTICLES

Europe ‘coming apart before our eyes’, say 30 top intellectuals

“Abandoned from across the Channel and from across the Atlantic by the two great allies who in the previous century saved it twice from suicide; vulnerable to the increasingly overt manipulations of the master of the Kremlin, Europe as an idea, as will and representation, is coming apart before our eyes,”

The backstop has backfired

Fighting between the two was only brought to a halt in 1998 with the Good Friday Agreement, which drew to a close a disturbing modern period of ethno-nationalist warfare known as The Troubles.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal — which almost cost her leadership this week — is so controversial among Brexit supporters in the UK specifically because it avoids the reintroduction of a so-called “hard” Irish border, which many fear would stir up violence.

Sunday Times article 27 Jan 2019: Bombers vow to exploit troubles over Irish border and backstop

Extract: Republicans are gearing up for violence as a key part of the EU deal threatens to bring about the outcome it was meant to prevent

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Irish TV: Tonight Show: “This BS backstop has backfired in our face” -Hermann Kelly on Anglo-Irish relations over Brexit

The Irish Times 5 March 2019: Taoiseach denies more gardaí being sent to border region due to Brexit

Extracts

Mr Varadkar was responding to a number of Opposition TDs reacting to an Irish Independent report about armed units being sent to the border in anticipation of the fallout from a hard Brexit.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin asked why Ireland was “the only EU member that has not said what will happen on its borders in a no-deal scenario”, while it was reported that armed units were being sent to the border in anticipation of a no-deal Brexit.

‘Drip, drip’

People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said the Taoiseach consistently said the Government had made no preparations for a hard border “and yet we are hearing a constant drip, drip of commentary and reports which suggest that behind the scenes, the Government may be considering installing a physical border”.

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