Leo Varadkar: Deal not a bid for united Ireland

A historic deal guaranteeing no hard border in the North is not an attempt to move towards a united Ireland, the Government has said.

However, it is believed the “cast-iron” deal could pave the way for a soft Brexit.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the Government has secured a “bulletproof” deal to guarantee no hard border with the North.

Dramatic developments across Dublin, London, and Brussels yesterday saw governments and the EU agree to end phase one of Brexit talks.

In a morning press conference in Government Buildings, Mr Varadkar described assurances for no hard border, outlined in the text, as “politically bulletproof”.

“This is not the end but it is the end of the beginning and we will remain fully engaged,” he said.

Final agreement that “sufficient progress” has been agreed on EU-UK citizenship rights, Britain’s divorce bill, and a frictionless border will be made at an EU summit next week.

The deal was reached after a new paragraph was inserted to allay unionist concerns that the North would somehow be separated from mainland Britain.

Instead, there is now another backstop which provides that, in the absence of a solution, businesses in the North will get “unfettered” access to the British market.

This protection is in addition to the paragraph that equally guarantees there will be no barriers, trade or otherwise, between the North and the Republic, and therefore no hard border.

Mr Varadkar said the commitment by the EU and Britain to retain a free-flowing border post-Brexit was “rock solid and cast-iron”.

He said he wanted to assure unionists that Dublin was “not trying to exploit Brexit to move toward Irish unity without consent”.

Tánaiste Simon Coveney said ultimately that the fallback position agreed on the North ruled out any physical border checks.

“There will be, in no circumstances, a need to introduce border checks on the border of Ireland,” he said.

The Irish Examiner understands the Government signed off on the fresh deal by late Thursday afternoon, after which the new 15-page deal was passed to the EU Brexit taskforce and eventually agreed by all sides close to midnight.

Irish officials are pleased with the outcome, with some high-placed sources saying yesterday that the outcome was “close to the status quo” or existing EU arrangements. “Their [Britain’s] scope will be limited for new trade deals,” said one figure.

Dublin believes this deal will make it more difficult for Britain to go out and strike new trade deals with other countries or continents, as it will be constrained by ties with the North.

“We have protected what we sought to protect and we achieved what we sought to achieve,” said Mr Varadkar.

EU agriculture commissioner and former minister Phil Hogan said the Irish side “made no concessions” to reach the agreement.