BREXIT REVEALED: Leo Varadkar holds THIS secret he has to 'COME CLEAN' about
IRISH Prime Minister Leo Varadkar will be forced to prepare for a hard border whether the UK leaves the EU with an agreement that includes the backstop or on a no deal case scenario, claimed author Kevin O'Rourke.
Brexit: Taoiseach needs to COME CLEAN says expert
Speaking to Andrew Neil on BBC Politics Live, the Irish author argued Brexit will inevitably result with a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Mr O'Rourke claimed the Irish Taoiseach should "come clean" and begin preparing for the eventuality of a hard border. He argued that in the event the UK agreed to a backstop with the EU the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland could remain permanent.
He said: “That’s my very clear view. It might take a few weeks or months for that to happen - the Government in Dublin hasn’t been planning for this as far and we know and I’m sure they will try to string it out and there will be public procurement procedures to get the contractors in and I’m sure they’re try to delay it - but ultimately, they’ll have no choice.
“And I do actually think the Taoiseach needs to come clean now on this.
“And if you change the backstop then you have a hard border also because Lancaster House applies to the UK as a whole and necessitates the border.
“And the problem from the Irish point of view is that if they concede on the backstop principle then any border that emerges would be permanent, whereas if they don’t concede then any border that emerges as a result of no deal - accidental or otherwise - may turn up to be only temporary.”
I do actually think the Taoiseach needs to come clean now on this
It comes as Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister Simon Coveney prepares to travel to Washington as Dublin seeks backup from Congress to block a no-deal Brexit.
The Irish foreign minister will make the trip to the US next week to meet with Irish-American lawmakers behind a move to oppose the return of a hard border in Ireland.
The planned talks come just days after MPs in Westminster voted to scrap the backstop designed to avoid a hard border and replace it with “alternative arrangements”.
On the day of the vote, congressman Brendan Boyle put forward a resolution which, if backed, could see the US Congress formally oppose the reimposition of border checks in Ireland, The Irish Times reports.
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Speaking after the House of Commons vote, Mr Boyle said the decision by MPs underlined the urgency of the issue.
He told the Irish newspaper: “I felt that this was the right time for the US Congress to state publicly what many of us have been saying privately for some time.
“The Good Friday Agreement is one of the great foreign policy achievements of the 20th century. It eliminated the hard border that then existed between Northern Ireland the rest of Ireland.
“Now Brexit threatens this.”