`Nonsense': Ireland Dismisses U.K. Brexit Minister's Comments

(Bloomberg) -- Ireland’s deputy prime minister assailed U.K. Brexit Secretary David Davis’ suggestion that Sinn Fein is influencing the Dublin government as “nonsense,” in the latest sign of tension between the two countries over the U.K. vote to leave the EU.

The Irish government under Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has “quite a strong influence from Sinn Fein” when it comes to Brexit, The Times of London quoted Davis as saying on Monday.

Those comments are “way off the mark and inaccurate and perhaps it would be helpful if David came to Dublin and we could talk about Irish politics and how it works here,” Irish Deputy Prime Minister Simon Coveney said in an RTE Radio interview Tuesday. “The idea that the Irish government has its approach to Brexit influenced or dictated by Sinn Fein is a nonsense.”

Sinn Fein, a political party pushing for a united Ireland, backed the Remain camp that sought to keep the U.K. in the European Union in the 2016 referendum.

Finding a way to avoid a so-called hard border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic has become the main sticking point in the Brexit negotiations. The U.K. hasn’t yet put forward an alternative “backstop” solution for the Irish border in the event of a so-called hard Brexit, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday.

To contact the reporter on this story: Peter Flanagan in Dublin at pflanagan23@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ambereen Choudhury at achoudhury@bloomberg.net, Kevin Costelloe, Dara Doyle

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