Ireland must prepare for hard border, warns Simon Coveney

Ireland must still prepare for a hard border with customs checks, Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney has warned.

While a UK position paper has made it clear that a “seamless and frictionless” border is the preferred post-Brexit option, Mr Coveney said Ireland cannot be complacent and must prepare for the worst.

“We obviously have to prepare for the worst case scenario, we can’t allow a situation here whereby there is a cliff-edge that we get pushed over and we haven’t thought about,” he said.

“The Revenue Commissioners in Ireland need to be involved in discussions as to how we manage a worst case scenario.”

The position paper, published yesterday, states that avoiding checkpoints and physical infrastructure on the Norther Ireland border is the British government’s number one priority. However, it states that the southern side of the border “would continue to be subject to relevant EU regulations” which could mean customs checks.

Mr Coveney agreed with some proposals put forward in the paper, but said there is “work to do” and singled out the proposed options around the customs union as “totally unworkable”.

Mr Coveney said the Irish Government will be “realistic and fair but we will also be stubborn in relation to defending Irish interests”.

He said: “Certainly we are not going to be used as a pawn here in any bigger negotiation. My focus is on the island of Ireland, the interests of Irish businesses and citizens, whether they live north or south or, indeed, in the UK.”

It is expected there will be a transitional period of around two years after Brexit negotiations conclude.

While sources in the British government said they don’t want the return of a border, they left the door open as to what will happen once the transitional period concludes.

“It’s not a priority for us to establish a border and find ways of circumventing it; we want to avoid a border entirely. Technological fixes might come in the future once we have decided which option we want to use and how we produce it but that’s the spirit in which we are engaging at the moment,” said a British government source.

The source said the Common Travel Area will continue as it is, with full and free movement for Irish and British people.

“Over the past 10-15 years, we have been working on a bilateral basis to strengthen the external border. That involves standardising checks at borders and sharing of information on watchlists.

“So dealing with the border at the Common Travel Area has been the approach until now and as far as I am concerned we will seek to strengthen the external border, continue to exchange information, and that will be sufficient.”

The source did accept that the Common Travel Area continuing post-Brexit does pose a risk for the UK, but insisted it is a manageable one. “Frankly that involves an element of risk on our part but we are OK to take that risk.”

Isme and Fianna Fáil Brexit spokesman Stephen Donnelly said the UK proposals were contradictory.

Mr Donnelly said: “In these papers, the UK government prioritises barrier-free trade with Ireland while leaving the single market. It prioritises having no new border around Northern Ireland while leaving the customs union. It prioritises a transition period while the UK’s prime minister states free movement of people will end in March 2019 — putting a transition period at risk.”