Coveney: Brexit will dominate agenda for rest of year

Tánaiste Simon Coveney has warned that Ireland's frictionless trade with the UK will end on December 31, and the country is facing a cliff-edge fall into tariff-laden trade.

He said this is because the UK has made it clear it will not seek an extension to the Brexit transition period, which will kick in once Britain leaves the EU at 11pm on Friday night.

Warning that fresh difficult challenges face the country, he said Brexit will once again dominate the political agenda for the rest of the year.

He said that he briefed Cabinet this morning in relation to Brexit preparations and arrangements, highlighting five key concerns to his ministerial colleagues.

These concerns are:

1) Transition arrangements – it is accepted at EU level, the UK is very unlikely to seek an extension to the transition period. Because of the timeline, the UK has put itself in a straightjacket, and the EU approach will be tailored to that timeline, he said.

2) Moving very quickly to the next phase, he said the Government is ready for what comes after 11pm Friday. He said the EU will publish its draft mandate as early as Monday.

3) Difficult choices – The EU has concluded that there is no chance a full deal can be done by the end of the year, he warned. He said the challenge is how do we as a country limit the damage. “We will be looking at how do we avoid falling into a WTO scenario, how do we avoid the cliff edge,” he said.

4) Contingency Planning – He warned enormous damage will be done if we do not get as frictionless trade as possible. The status quo is not achievable in any scenario. He said that preparations will have to continue to make Dublin Port and Rosslare Harbour fully ready for Brexit.

5) The NI protocol – He said the imperative will be to ensure the Government implements what has agreed to avoid a hard border. He said that will involve checks between the UK and Northern Ireland. To make that work, the North will have to operate to EU customs code and single market rules, he said.

Speaking in Dublin Mr Coveney said: “The approach to the negotiations from the European Union will be tailored to that time and that will force choices, but it will also force a very intense negotiation very quickly.”

He added: "On Monday, the Commission will publish their draft negotiating mandate, that will need to be approved by the EU leaders on February 25, and that mandate will be wide-ranging.

'Brexit has not gone away, you know,' Minister Heather Humphreys says in her distinct border accent, slightly ominous pic.twitter.com/CFh90b95ar

— Daniel McConnell (@McConnellDaniel) January 29, 2020

"I think what will become very clear is that we will have to make some very difficult choices before the summer and what I mean by that is, the European Union has already indicated that there is no way that a full future relationship agreement that involves free trade agreements can be completed by the end of the year, there was no chance.

"We are going to have a very demanding negotiation on fishing and so many other areas too, that links to how a future relationship will work from a commercial perspective, from a political perspective, from a data perspective, from a legal perspective and a transport perspective.

"So I ask you the question and the public the question, who do you trust to manage all of that?

"Because it's coming out, it's like a freight train, whether you like it or not."