EU – Page 41 – Slugger O'Toole

“Government will seek to pursue any appropriate opportunities for Ireland arising from the UK’s departure”

Pete Baker on October 10, 2016, 3:05 pm

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As mentioned in a couple of recent written answers in the Dáil, here and here, the Irish “Government will seek to pursue any appropriate opportunities for Ireland arising from the UK’s departure” from the EU. Here are those written answers Brexit Issues Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he has set up a departmental taskforce to acquire EU agencies and research projects from the UK that may have to relocate from Britain after Brexit negotiations are completed; and …

High tech can soften the prospect of a hard border, but it’s no Trojan horse.

Brian Walker on October 10, 2016, 12:23 am

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The Guardian has posted an early lead from its Ireland correspondent Henry McDonald quoting NI Secretary James Brokenshire saying that: London and Dublin will work to strengthen Ireland’s external borders in order to combat illegal migration into the UK once it leaves the European Union. “There was now a high level of collaboration on a joint programme of work” between the two states to control immigration. We have put in place a range of measures to further combat illegal migration …

“Swallow your doubts and take a pew in the reformed national church of Brexit…”

Mick Fealty on October 6, 2016, 7:49 pm

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This needs to be blogged, just for the record. It’s Rafael Behr, who’s been on fire for some time at the Guardian. Not the burning of heretics type on fire, but his reading of that quarter of history is pleasingly precise. He goes back to the last of the Tudors for his exemplar: the unfanatical Virgin, the first Elizabeth… This is nothing less than a reformation in the Church of Conservatism, with the authority of Brussels cast as a modern-day …

NI Attorney General on post-brexit future: “not one word or phrase in the Belfast Agreement” would be affected

Pete Baker on October 6, 2016, 4:35 pm

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There might be another, somewhat related, reason why Sinn Féin delegated their now-backbench MLA, John O’Dowd, to front the party’s support for the High Court legal action against Brexit – as a party of the NI Executive they may have seen legal advice from the Attorney General for Northern Ireland, John Larkin, QC. Earlier reports seemed to suggest that, having “written to the parties indicating his belief the cases raise a devolution issue around constitutional arrangements“, and the applicants subsequent agreement to a notice …

The Irish in GB are offered Brexit reassurances. Do they really need them?

Brian Walker on October 6, 2016, 10:11 am

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The Times (£) is carrying a story ” Irish NHS staff reassured over hard Brexit” reporting that Irish nurses and doctors will remain a key part of the NHS in England, ” despite plans to make the “British” ( sic – they mean English) health service self sufficient within ten years.” This is typical of stories in the London press which are confused about devolution and lump together Irish immigrants with others as foreign. Much of officialdom is ignorant about …

DUP and Tories playing footsie in Birmingham over a Parliamentary pact?

Mick Fealty on October 5, 2016, 7:34 am

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Interesting blog from Gary Gibbon who’s been in Birmingham, which speculates that there’s a deal in the offing between the Conservative party and the DUP to ensure that the party has an extra bit of insurance in Parliament for the times ahead. It’s not the first time a UK government has come calling, and it won’t be the last. Fragmentation in party representation puts an essentially pragmatist, pro-Union party like the DUP in a usefully powerful position until at least 2020 …

Don’t forget your passport if you’re crossing the border…

Pete Baker on October 4, 2016, 3:18 pm

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Given the level of hand-wringing concern being publicly expressed about the possibility of border controls post-Brexit, disingenuous or otherwise, here’s a topical and relevant story courtesy of the BBC. A County Armagh vegetable grower says businesses need more clarity about border controls, after eight of his workers were detained by Irish police on their way to work. The men, all EU nationals, were stopped at Dundalk on Monday morning as they crossed the border in a work van. They were …

Ireland will have to spell out what they mean by special status for the North – assuming they know what it is.

Brian Walker on October 4, 2016, 10:58 am

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Reactions have been predictable in Ireland to the“hard Brexit” tone of Theresa May’s brief conference speech in Sunday and her rejection of the idea of giving a Brexit veto to Scotland or Northern Ireland . The Irish government are as worried as they are ignorant of British intentions. The DUP remain defiantly pro-Leave and opposed to all – Ireland consultation at this stage. The Dail as a whole is now gloomier about prospects for an open border. Poor Ireland, bursting with goodwill …

Scotland and Northern Ireland’s legal consent for Brexit is not required – Theresa May

Brian Walker on October 3, 2016, 11:44 am

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“There is no opt-out from Brexit. And I will never allow divisive nationalists to undermine the precious Union between the four nations of our United Kingdom.” Theresa May has Scotland in mind here of course but the uncompromising “no opt out” applies equally to Northern Ireland. The “consultation” that is promised is therefore to be by grace and favour of the UK government. But there is still no word on what form that consultation may take. We know now that …

Hard Brexit, trade, and the border

Peter Donaghy (Salmon of Data) on October 2, 2016, 8:16 pm

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Today’s announcement by the Prime Minister Theresa May that Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon will be triggered in March 2017 has brought into sharp focus the potential impact that a hard Brexit could have on the Northern Ireland economy. Should the UK leave the European Union without any form of free trade deal with the EU, then trade across the Irish border could be subject to tariffs in line with World Trade Organization rules. A hard border between …

Theresa May’s new assurances on the border and consultation raise more questions than provide answers

Brian Walker on September 30, 2016, 6:13 pm

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In advance of the Conservative party conference and with speculation running about a hard Brexit, Theresa May has given an interview to BBC Scotland and BBC Northern Ireland to try to assure their governments that they won’t be ignored in formulating the UK Brexit strategy. This is in spite of the UK government’s insistence in court that Brexit is a matter reserved to Westminster and there is no legal requirement to consult them. Politics however is a different matter. I …

600 English lawyers so far have registered in the Republic in the wake of the Brexit vote

Brian Walker on September 30, 2016, 8:54 am

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From the Times’ The Brief Post-Brexit rush for qualification in Ireland gathers pace Slaughter and May – arguably the most pukka of English law firms – is leading a pack of City of London practices in rushing to Dublin to qualify its lawyers in the republic. It is understood that the blue blood firm has already funded ten lawyers to apply with the Law Society of Ireland to transfer to that profession and retain practice rights in the EU once …

Post Brexit, there may be many technological fixes to prevent serious rifts in border life…

Mick Fealty on September 29, 2016, 2:52 pm

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There is a lot fanciful nonsense being talked about what will happen to the Irish border post Brexit. Newton Emerson leads with one of the more fanciful ideas in the deployment of drones (which in terms of security are already here) to regulate customs. But he uses that to make a critically important point about how technology is already making the sort of grand projets that have marked the recent history of the EU unnecessary, if not redundant… Over the …

An Irish “conversation” is one thing, but what role for Stormont in the British conversation?

Brian Walker on September 29, 2016, 8:38 am

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The Institute for Government is a think tank that works closely with government. It reports that turf wars are already costing tens of millions. Its expert on devolution Akash Paun blogs that Holyrood, Cardiff Bay and Stormont should get their act together to pool their influence at the centre. Following exchanges over an Irish “conversation,” is Stormont up to it where it matters most? It is unlikely the UK’s four governments will come together as equal partners, with parity of …

Unionists have to be nudged to talk, with the incentives of common citizenship and other common interests

Brian Walker on September 28, 2016, 10:38 am

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Enda Kenny is surely right to be cautious about setting up an “all-Ireland forum” Better to have a “conversation” at least to start with in November. Even so its ability to speak for all Ireland would be seriously weakened by the absence of unionists, just as it would be counter- productive for the unionists not to take part eventually . As things stand, Northern Ireland’s regional government is therefore neither formally or informally to be represented. A fully fledged forum …

National Conversation: “This is why in respect of Northern Ireland we need the voice of Ireland…”

Mick Fealty on September 27, 2016, 7:50 pm

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At Leaders’ Questions in the Dail, Gerry Adams used his time to bring up the Taoiseach’s ‘plan’ to “bring forward about an all-Ireland forum”. An unfortunate term to use at the time since it was interpreted as a formal political proposition and easily repelled by the DUP. But Kenny’s response today indicates that he has been doing some thinking over the summer (transcript here): I recognise the vote of Northern Ireland, as I recognise the votes of Scotland, Wales and England. While, as …

Brexit secrecy may have “breached ministerial code”. So is the Executive’s line only to wait for Theresa?

Brian Walker on September 27, 2016, 4:03 pm

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UUP leader Mike Nesbitt’s charge that a briefing paper on the negative implications of Brexit apparently withheld from the former multiparty Executive by the FM and dFM in May 2015 may have been in breach of the ministerial code, is a neat move by a party now in formal opposition. It is also a small coup by The Detail which has just published the document after an FoI request. Was it a breach of the ministerial code as Nesbitt claims? …

The problems of Brexit are big enough without nurturing new grievances against the Brits

Brian Walker on September 21, 2016, 11:27 am

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In his eloquent contributions to the Mount Stewart conversations, (warm thanks to Alan), Fintan O’Toole in terms stated as fact that the people had exercised an irreversible act of sovereignty in approving the Good Friday Agreement enshrined in international treaty. This had been violated by the “reckless” imposition of Brexit on the Northern Ireland. The UK government had no right to try to take Northern Ireland out of the EU, because a majority voted to Remain. Not only that, his …

Reflections on the British-Irish Association in Oxford

Brian Walker on September 19, 2016, 5:46 pm

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A tale of two Unions: can circles be squared by a new devolution settlement? This was written for the blog of the Constitution Unit of University College London. In the wake of the Brexit vote there has been much discussion about the possibility of Scotland and Northern Ireland, where there were Remain majorities in June, preserving closer relationships with the EU than the UK as a whole. The idea that Scotland and Northern Ireland could be entirely exempted from …

Catch up on the Mount Stewart Conversations: diplomacy and Europe, then and now

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on September 19, 2016, 10:40 am

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MOUNT STEWART CONVERSATIONS – a weekend of ideas, debate and stories looking at relationships with Europe from Lord Castlereagh’s involvement in the Congress of Venice right through to Brexit and the kind of diplomacy that will be required in years to come. Throw in live music, food, and the gorgeous National Trust gardens and walks, you can see how country houses used to transact a lot of political business away from the cities and parliaments!