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Leo Varadkar has said removing the border backstop would be as bad for Ireland as a no-deal Brexit.<\/p>\nLeo Varadkar has said removing the border backstop would be as bad for Ireland as a no-deal Brexit.<\/p>\n
Some contenders to replace Theresa May as British Prime Minister, including front runner Boris Johnson, have proposed changes to the policy.<\/p>\n
The EU has said the Withdrawal Agreement \u2013 including the backstop \u2013 is not up for renegotiation.<\/p>\n
The Taoiseach told RTE\u2019s Marian Finucane program: \u201cIt\u2019s a legal guarantee and legally operable guarantee that we will never see a hard border again.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe difficulties we have with a time limit is effectively you are saying there will or could be a hard border once that time limit expires \u2013 that isn\u2019t a backstop.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we are open to, and always have been open to, is alternative arrangements that perhaps could avoid a hard border, through procedures and technologies and so on.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we expect \u2013 and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s unreasonable \u2013 we want to see that fleshed out, we want to see it exist, it demonstrated before we are willing to give up the backstop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mrs May\u2019s erstwhile Democratic Unionist Party backers are adamant they cannot support any EU withdrawal deal which includes a backstop with no time limit.<\/p>\n
The Taoiseach added: \u201cWhat people are saying is \u2018give up the backstop\u2019 \u2013 which we know will work legally and operationally \u2013 in return for something that doesn\u2019t yet exist but might exist in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t do that to the border communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some Conservatives are concerned anything that keeps the UK tied to Europe after Brexit may hinder the ability to strike trade deals with other countries.<\/p>\n
An extension to the period before the UK leaves the EU ends in the autumn.<\/p>\n
Mr Johnson has claimed it is \u201cperfectly realistic\u201d to renegotiate the Withdrawal Agreement to allow the UK to leave in October.<\/p>\n