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Theresa May is showing \u201cscant regard\u201d for Ireland in Brexit plans, Sinn F\u00e9in has claimed.<\/p>\nTheresa May is showing \u201cscant regard\u201d for Ireland in Brexit plans, Sinn F\u00e9in has claimed.<\/p>\n
Party vice-president Michelle O\u2019Neill said the backstop should be \u201cenhanced\u201d to include rights protections.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, DUP MEP Diane Dodds said the EU should clarify its plans.<\/p>\n
Mrs O\u2019Neill said: \u201cTheresa May\u2019s focus remains on the civil war in her own party instead of focusing on negotiations with the EU.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than 18 months into these negotiations and with time running out, Theresa May still shows scant regard for Ireland, for rights, our economy or our agreements.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Taoiseach said a few months ago that citizens in the North would never be left behind again.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Irish Government, as an EU member state which is party to this negotiation, has to stand firm on the backstop agreed between the British Government and the EU last December as this is the only insurance policy the people of the North can reply upon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mrs Dodds said it was unclear whether the proposals represented a serious departure from the EU\u2019s \u201cdogmatic\u201d stance or whether they were simply intended to dress up existing elements of its plan.<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cIt is imperative that Brussels negotiators move to clarify their position as soon as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe DUP remains firmly opposed to the core tenet of the original plan published by Michel Barnier which would see Northern Ireland remain tied to EU rules and cut adrift from the rest of the United Kingdom post-Brexit.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will not countenance anything which affects the constitutional position of Northern Ireland within the Union, creates barriers to and within the UK internal market or erects barriers in customs or regulation.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said at every stage the DUP had made this clear to the British Prime Minister and Mr Barnier.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe job of finding a workable, practical and mutual solution remains incomplete.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said suggestions the EU was considering technology-based solutions were a positive, if belated, development.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, this will become null and void if based only on the EU goal of ensuring Northern Ireland remains in a common regulatory and customs areas inside the EU.<\/p>\n
\u201cEqually, we are unconvinced by political and economic arguments which suggest that a technological border in the Irish Sea is more deliverable than on the land border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.\u201d<\/p>\n