Charlie Flanagan: Hard Brexit a threat to border peace

A hard Brexit could threaten peace along the border with the North, according to Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan. While he welcomed the stance taken by British prime minister Theresa May that the Good Friday Agreement be protected, he warned of the dangers a “difficult” Brexit could pose.

“I say, as Minister for Justice, the greatest threat to the security of this State comes from dissident republicans along the border and a hard Brexit or a difficult Brexit will feed into tensions and could well give rise to difficulties that none of us want,” said Mr Flanagan.

“That’s why it’s important that all parties work towards the agreement and that we see a restoration of the power-sharing institutions under the agreement.

“The Good Friday Agreement, from cover to cover, must be respected within the Brexit negotiations.”

It comes ahead of Tánaiste Simon Coveney’s meeting today with EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels. A spokesman for Mr Coveney said: “This week will be a significant one in the ongoing Brexit negotiations with the translation into legal text of what was agreed in December, including the backstop arrangements or Option C, in terms of the guarantee of avoiding a hard border.

“Our team has worked closely with the Task Force to ensure there will be no slippage following the deal agreed in December. Despite the efforts of some to distract from that, we are fully satisfied that Ireland’s concerns will be effectively addressed. All of this will be seen over the coming days.”

Meanwhile, Mr Flanagan’s comments came as the UK Labour Party said it supports remaining in a customs union with the EU after Brexit.

Labour’s Brexit spokesman, Keir Starmer, said it is “crunch time” for Ms May over her approach to the customs union. He said Labour had “long championed being in a customs union with the EU and the benefits”.

He told BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show: “Obviously it’s the only way realistically to get tariff-free access, it’s really important for our manufacturing base and nobody can answer the question how you keep your commitment to no hard border in Northern Ireland without a customs union.”

He said Labour had had “many weeks of discussion unanimously” and agreed to develop its policy, to be announced by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn today.

He said: “The customs arrangements at the moment are hardwired into the membership treaty so I think everybody now recognises there’s going to have to be a new treaty — it will do the work of the customs union.

Minister of state for European affairs Helen McEntee welcomed the remarks but said the Government would need to see what specific Brexit measures the Conservative Party put forward.

“This is something that is coming from the Labour Party, this is obviously not coming from government, it’s not coming from Theresa May, they have consistently said they will not stay within the customs union or the single market,” she said.