Simon Coveney: Time limit on backstop a ‘deal-breaker’

Tánaiste Simon Coveney has talked down chances of a breakthrough on Brexit at next week’s summit of EU leaders, saying such talk is “probably not well founded”.

The foreign affairs minister said a time limit on the backstop deal post- Brexit is a “deal-breaker”.

Speaking at a Brexit event in Galway, Mr Coveney insisted the backstop agreement is non-negotiable.

Simon Coveney: Talked down chances of Brexit breakthrough.

“We need to ensure that we can reassure communities in the island of Ireland that they’re not going to face the corrosive impact of a physical border reemerging on the island of Ireland, bringing back memories of the past, the requirement of security around border checks and so on.

“We have 300 road crossings between Ireland and Northern Ireland. It’s a 300-kilometre border. The idea that we would try and stop commercial traffic crossing that when you don’t even know when you’re crossing the border today because it’s so seamless.”

He likened the backstop to a form of insurance for both sides, similar to a household taking out fire cover.

Speaking to ITV News, Mr Coveney said the backstop “needs to be there unless, or until, something better comes along”.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald made similar comments about the backstop over the last few days.

The notion of a time-limited backstop was proposed for trade between the UK and EU after Brexit, with an “expected” end date of 2021. It would see the UK match EU trade tariffs temporarily in order to avoid a hard border post-Brexit.

Mr Coveney said it is now unlikely that new British proposals on the backstop will be published before a critical EU summit next week, admitting that an extra summit in November will “probably be needed” to reach a deal.

He said people should be realistic about time-frames.

Mr Coveney said, however, that he hoped a “big step forward” would be made next week.

He hoped negotiators would be able to make “a big step forward”. He said: “The negotiating teams... will hopefully have some political recommendations to feed political leaders early next week”.