Irish Access to Single Market at Risk in No-Deal, Minister Says
Irish Access to Single Market at Risk in No-Deal, Minister Says
(Bloomberg) -- Ireland risks losing access to the European Union’s single market if Northern Ireland become a “backdoor” to the bloc in the event of a no-deal Brexit, the nation’s foreign minister warned in Dublin.
Foreign Minister Simon Coveney underlined the scale of the dilemma facing Ireland if the U.K. crashes out of the bloc without a deal. The Irish government will have an obligation to protect the single market, even as it wants to keep the border with the U.K. invisible, he told reporters in Dublin on Monday.
If the U.K. tumbles out of the bloc in October without a deal, then the question that has dogged Brexit talks -- how to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland -- becomes an acute crisis. The main obstacle to getting a Brexit deal that’s acceptable to all sides is finding a solution for the Irish border.
At a conference in Dublin, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar agreed that Ireland faces a conflict in reconciling its two objectives.
The European Commission has pushed the Irish government to lay out its plans for the border in a no-deal Brexit, a person familiar with the matter said earlier this year. Ireland was proving elusive when the Commission has attempted to pin down the government on its plan, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Varadkar said last year his government would “never” build a border, though he appears to have stepped back from that stance after it became clear that could mean a de facto frontier emerged between Ireland and the rest of the bloc.
Varadkar said on Monday that while tariffs could be levied away from the frontier, avoiding checks on goods presents a bigger challenge. The government is set to publish more details on its no-deal plans later this week, he said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Dara Doyle in Dublin at ddoyle1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Emma Ross-Thomas
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