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Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said “more detailed and realistic proposals” are needed from the UK in relation to Brexit.<\/p>\nTaoiseach Leo Varadkar has said “more detailed and realistic proposals” are needed from the UK in relation to Brexit.<\/p>\n
Mr Varadkar said he was concerned that some of the constraints of leaving the Customs Union and the Single Market have not been fully recognised by Theresa May’s government.<\/p>\n
He was speaking after Mrs May set out the UK’s hopes for a future EU economic partnership during a speech in London on Friday.<\/p>\n
Mr Varadkar said: “For our part, a close economic relationship is very much in the interests of Irish business, as is a smooth transition period.<\/p>\n
“However, I remain concerned that some of the constraints of leaving the Customs Union and the Single Market are still not fully recognised.”<\/p>\n
Mr Varadkar added: “We will now need to see more detailed and realistic proposals from the UK. Brexit is due to happen in a little over 12 months, so time is short.”<\/p>\n
Tanaiste and Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said Mrs May’s commitment to no hard border on the island must now be backed up by “concrete proposals”.<\/p>\n
He said that while he welcomed Mrs May’s vow not to allow Brexit to jeopardise the Northern Ireland peace process, the UK must now provide the solution to how a hard border could be avoided and the Good Friday Agreement protected.<\/p>\n
“We welcome the Prime Minister’s reiteration of the UK’s steadfast commitment to the Good Friday Agreement and to the commitments made in the agreement reached last December, including on avoiding a hard border.<\/p>\n
“These commitments now need to be translated into concrete proposals on how a hard border can be avoided and the Good Friday Agreement and North-South co-operation protected.”<\/p>\n
He added: “Our shared hope is that the future EU-UK relationship can achieve these goals.<\/p>\n
“However, we, together with the Commission, are also committed to exploring other specific solutions, if proposed by the UK.”<\/p>\n
Mr Coveney said if no solution was reached, the fall-back mechanism, as agreed in December, would entail, if necessary, “full alignment in Northern Ireland with those rules of the single market and customs union necessary to protect North-South co-operation, the all-island economy and the Good Friday Agreement, and to avoid a hard border”.<\/p>\n
Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald accused Mrs May of failing “to grasp the hard truths and realities” of Brexit.<\/p>\n
“The hard truth is that Brexit is incompatible with the wishes of the people of the north, acts against our economy and undermines our agreements.<\/p>\n
“The British Government knows this and that is why they have failed to bring forward any workable solutions or new thinking,” she said.<\/p>\n