Republic – Page 7 – Slugger O'Toole

Varadkar offers a way out of deadock – or a hedge against failure?

Brian Walker on January 21, 2019, 10:44 am

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The UK national papers are united in hopelessness over May’s latest strategy, tempered only by disbelief. Plan B is Plan A. Even the cheerleader for Brexit the Daily Telegraph is not impressed. The Europe editor slaps down the chief political correspondent’s “ exclusive.” Theresa May is considering amending the Good Friday Agreement as part of a fresh attempt to unblock the Brexit logjam, The Daily Telegraph understands. Peter Foster But the mere suggestion that a British government wants to ‘amend’ the Good Friday Agreement should …

Backstop terms are in prospect in any final deal. Unionists cannot afford to stand apart

Brian Walker on January 19, 2019, 4:42 pm

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Unfashionable though it may be to ask: do the DUP have a point when they object so strongly to the backstop? Undoubtedly it confers special status on Northern Ireland but in a form nobody likes, even nationalists who called for it. Mrs May’s deal a.k.a. the withdrawal agreement, is presumed dead ; the backstop is only sleeping. The bitter controversy surrounding it dramatically expresses the fundamental difference of outlook between the legalistic approach of people schooled from the beginning in …

Plan for a border poll certainly, but as part of new British- Irish and North-South relationships

Brian Walker on January 12, 2019, 12:01 pm

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Deep in the last ditch before Tuesday’s meaningful vote, the UK government are warning that the DUP’s refusal to back Mrs May’s deal brings a border poll nearer. The warning was put into the mouth of Karen Bradley who political anoraks may just remember is the minister with nominal responsibility for Northern Ireland affairs. No 10 put out one of their coy little briefings to say that she “told the Cabinet” that a border poll on the reunification of Ireland …

The shape of the final deal actually looks promising- if only we can get over the hump of the backstop. London now needs Dublin’s help to get there

Brian Walker on January 9, 2019, 11:54 pm

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“Cosmetic and meaningless.” On behalf of the DUP, Nigel Dodds’ rejection of the government’s latest bunch of concessions and clarifications is entirely predictable. The legal text containing the backstop of the Ireland/ Northern Ireland Protocol has indeed not been changed as everybody knew it wouldn’t be and won’t be. Many will shrug and say that’s that. But it’s nothing of the sort. If there’s to be any middle way between No Deal and No Brexit, it’s hard to see how …

The DUP are the crucial “dominoes” in May’s bid to win a second meaningful vote

Brian Walker on January 7, 2019, 6:23 pm

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Theresa May’s strategy to try to win MPs’ endorsement of the withdrawal agreement is a little clearer, arising out of hints she gave to Andrew Marr yesterday. The strategy is classic if conventional politics, before a fundamentally divided, incoherent opposition, however formidable it now seems. It involves narrowing the gaps, wearing down opposition by a mixture of project Fear (miles of traffic jams and English police on Ulster streets ) and project Farce (the shipping company with no ships), and …

Wobbles on the backstop and an eventual Fianna Fail- SDLP merger are new features of the countdown to the day of Brexit reckoning

Brian Walker on January 6, 2019, 2:17 pm

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As Sammy Wilson was among the first to remind us, Brexit wars have resumed again after the Christmas pause. Theresa May has just promised no delay to the meaningful vote scheduled for the week after next. But she declined to speculate on extending Article 50 if as expected MPs finally vote down the withdrawal agreement with the Irish backstop. According to the Irishman who is professor of Constitutional and EU law at University College London, Ronan McCrea.. the UK …

Looking through the lens of history helps us ease the torments of Brexit

Brian Walker on December 22, 2018, 11:50 am

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As a Christmas treat, let’s stand back from the tangles of Brexit and the backstop and take a broader look at how they’re complicating our fond old obsession with our choice of identities British, Irish and European. One of the leaders of the current debate is Fintan O’Toole a torrentially eloquent writer who knows Britain as well as his own backyard. You’d be hard put to find an English equivalent writing about Ireland. What we see more of are endless voyages of …

Crisp advice to Parliament on what to ponder over Christmas

Brian Walker on December 20, 2018, 10:31 am

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Perhaps the most celebrated of constitutional experts Vernon Bogdanor, has no doubts about what should happen next. The irony is that there is a much greater consensus among MPs than is apparent from the posturing of May’s opponents. Kenneth Clarke believes that about 80% of MPs are against a no-deal Brexit, while nearly all MPs accept that there should not be a hard Irish border, which would be incompatible with the spirit of the Good Friday agreement of 1998. The withdrawal agreement achieves …

Theresa, No Deal Project Fear is a cruel insult to our intelligence

Brian Walker on December 18, 2018, 11:50 pm

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The latest Project Fear is a UK government analysis of the impact of No Deal on the Republic’s trade. It says that 80% of their trade with Europe passes over the British land bridge to ports such as Dover. No deal barriers causing expected congestion there would have a catastrophic effect on the Irish economy. The aim is to soften up Varadkar’s apparently implacable support for the backstop. Project Fear is accompanied by Project Puff up and Soothe the DUP, …

Brexit has reversed the stereotypes of Britain and Ireland

Brian Walker on December 18, 2018, 5:11 pm

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Brexit has turned British, Irish and continental stereotypes on their heads, historian Arthur Aughey has observed in a brilliant essay in the Belfast Telegraph One long-standing explanation is that the British and continental Europeans (especially the French) approach political problems with very different mindsets… On the one hand, Michel Barnier’s style – and the European Council’s – considers British reluctance to define principles as either proof of poor preparation or as inability to clarify its objectives. That, more or less, …

“I can take the despair. It’s the hope I can’t stand.” Theresa May in Brussels? Answer. Worse: humiliation

Brian Walker on December 13, 2018, 11:53 pm

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What was Theresa May actually expecting from the EU 27 leaders in Brussels? There was always the desperate hope for one of those last minute rush to settle against the declared odds. Instead… headlines… Daily Telegraph ( Brexiteer) Theresa May was humiliated once again by EU leaders last night as her attempts to improve her Brexit deal were thrown back in her face. The Sun (Brexiteer) and coiner of dreadful puns BRUSSELS ROUT Theresa May told to get stuffed by …

No sign of Ireland blinking over the backstop, as Theresa May races around Europe raising the bogey of No Deal

Brian Walker on December 11, 2018, 1:48 pm

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Theresa May at bay threw down one effective challenge to the massed ranks of her critics. “Come clean: do you want Brexit or not? “No”, chorused the SNP and she rolled her eyes. For as long as Parliament cannot settle on an agreed alternative she holds a narrow initiative. In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed woman is queen. In her whistle -stop tour of continental capitals, her ploy now is to seek “reassurances”, a time honoured feature of …

Keep your eye on the glimmer of light in the Big Picture. But first we need to re-examine the backstop, sooner rather than later.

Brian Walker on December 10, 2018, 1:04 pm

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Although the sight of it is darkly occluded, the shape of things to come is emerging through the fog. Whatever immediate political strategy Theresa May chooses today, the dream of the hard line Brexiteers is in process of disintegration. Whatever the political turmoil today, the UK will retain some sort of close relationship with the EU. In Northern Ireland, unionists will have a closer relationship with the Republic and with nationalists generally – and I would argue with only slightly …

A riposte to David McWilliams

Brian Walker on December 5, 2018, 3:12 pm

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Out of interest… It was surprising that the Financial Times should publish a long triumphalist critique of Northern Ireland by the economist David McWilliams without comment from other economists (“ The final frontier”, Life & Arts, December 1). Mr McWilliams claims that most people in Northern Ireland want to stay in the EU. It is true that 56 per cent voted for the UK to remain in the EU. He echoes Sinn Féin in claiming that this meant many unionists …

The DUP are waking up to the idea that Fortress Ulster has no future. They should be encouraged, not abused

Brian Walker on November 26, 2018, 12:29 pm

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They are still talking in euphemisms. They are desperate to avoid finding themselves suddenly on the losing side without any notion of the outcome. Goodness knows what Theresa May can offer to sell the withdrawal agreement when she visits Northern Ireland on her nationwide tour. Experience of local negotiations argues strongly against side deals and the arguments have been so well rehearsed already. Entirely wisely, the DUP are for once hinting at a solution to the backstop conundrum other than …

Why would the DUP NOT support a soft Brexit for the final deal that would get rid of border problems?

Brian Walker on November 25, 2018, 2:05 pm

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With the cabinet splitting every which way in all directions, Theresa May comes into her own as the ace stonewaller to every burning hypothetical question. As the fateful moment of signing the withdrawal agreement arrived in Brussels this morning, the prime minister was still insisting to the massed ranks of sceptics back home: “This isn’t about me. It’s not the case that there is another negotiation to be done. This is the deal that’s been agreed, it’s the only deal …

Theresa May is in there, in the general jostling for last minute gains

Brian Walker on November 21, 2018, 12:25 am

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What a mad rush to the tape it’s turning out to be! Theresa May will be in Brussels today ahead of Sunday’s summit to squeeze the last scrap of advantage out of the withdrawal agreement as they all look ahead to the future. The EU states on the other hand are equally determined that as the price of leaving, Britain will be denied advantages she enjoys now. Last minute objections are being raised by the Spanish over the status of …

The DUP fired a shot against the government’s bows, taking care to miss

Brian Walker on November 20, 2018, 12:22 am

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The headliner at Ronnie Scott’s looks crap tonight Tweet of the day from jazz buff Ken Clarke followed by.. I’ve been sat up in bed for hours, whisky on the bedside table, soft jazz playing in the background, trying to think if I’ve ever worked with a more idiotic bunch of self centred bastards in my nearly 50 years as a MP. Nope, still can’t think of any. Time for another bottle. Gently reminding Nigel Dodds across the floor of …

The border in the Irish Sea… the future of north-south cooperation.The devil is in the detail.

Brian Walker on November 19, 2018, 1:20 pm

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RTE News’s Europe editor Tony Connelly has published two extremely useful stories on essential detail. Does the Ireland/NI Protocol of the Withdrawal Agreement threaten north-south cooperation? Does the proposed customs arrangement for Northern Ireland amount to a border in the Irish Sea that threatens its constitutional position? How the rules would actually work is explained. This new customs territory would therefore be a combination of the EU’s customs territory, set out in EU law, and the UK’s customs territory. But …

The prime minister may not have the numbers but options are running out for the DUP and the Tory Brexiteers

Brian Walker on November 19, 2018, 12:41 am

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With a week to go before the hoped for ratification of the Withdrawal Agreement, Nigel Dodds has grabbed Dominic Raab’s reading of the Withdrawal Agreement as a lifeline. It may confirm his worst fears coming from someone who only four days ago was in the inner circle, but now, much good may it do him. In his Sunday Times article, Raab is withering about the European Commission’s approach to the talks and accuses Brussels of deliberately trying to wound …