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MINISTER FOR FOREIGN Affairs Simon Coveney has expressed hope that this week’s agreement on a post-Brexit deal will mark the beginning of a new relationship between the UK and Ireland.
The EU and the UK published full 1,246-page text of the treaty yesterday, less than a week before the deal is due to be implemented.
Cabinet is set to be updated on the deal on Tuesday, before the official end of the Brexit transition period on New Year’s Day.
Expressing relief at the agreement of a deal, Coveney said issues specifically relating to Ireland – including the NI border, the peace process and tariffs – had all been “put to bed”.
“When you weigh up the enormous damage of a no deal, I think Ireland has defended itself against the vulnerabilities Brexit forced upon us,” the minister said.
“The protection from the Irish protocol and this deal is beyond what many predicted would be possible.”
Coveney also warned that there would still be changes from next week when the UK fully exits EU, and confirmed that Cabinet would discuss supports for the most affected sectors as a result.
But he said his feeling upon agreement of the deal was one of “relief… tinged with regret” because the UK is set to leave the EU.
“Ireland is now focused on building a new relationship with the UK outside of the EU. Personally I hope talk of ‘Brexit’ will fade away,” Coveney added.
The deal is yet to be ratified by the EU’s 27 Member States and by the UK’s House of Commons.
However, member states have indicated they will formally back the deal within days, while British MPs and peers will are expected to pass the deal on 30 December, when the Conservatives will receive support for the treaty from opposition Labour MPs.
Contains reporting from Press Association.
Well done Simon, i did not beleive agreement would be reached prior to Jan.
@Robert Deane: Simon did Sweet FA
@Parked: so who did it so????
@Patrick O Connell: Ursula von der Leyen protecting her cash cow.
@Craig Clancy: what cash cow
Plenty of commenters on the Journal over the last 4 years have been waiting for the EU to sell Ireland down the river.
Any of them like to admit they were completed and utterly wrong?
@David Corrigan: That’s a piece about the EU budget that was agreed six months or so ago, not the Brexit deal. I also disagree with the tone of the piece, but the fact that it’s irrelevant to the topic at hand is enough to ignore it here.
@David Corrigan: get your news from places that aren’t run by Brexiteers with crappy WordPress skills.
@Glenn Halpin: Multiple links to Irish Times reports also.
@Denis McManus: But the deal Ireland got is accurate. My point was that the EU don’t always give us good deals when you start to read the fine print.
@David Corrigan: so would we be better off following the UK out the door????
@Lesidees: the real wheeling and dealing only starts now. Macron is chomping at the bit to get at our corporate tax, especially now the Brits are gone. It’s only starting.
@Patrick O Connell: It would have to be carefully evaluated first.
@David Corrigan: as long as it would not be evaluated on fish lol
@Lesidees: Er, considering the deal doesn’t even kick in till next Jan, nobody can say what effects it will actually have yet.
It was the right strategy to get the border sorted beforehand, since the British wanted to sort it via the trade deal and use the GFA as a bargaining chip. Of course they then tried to renege on precisely those provisions, and might have pushed on with that if Trump had won reelection. I’m not happy with Brexit, but at least the year can now end on a somewhat positive note.
@Mick Tobin: Imagine we were facing into a 2021 with another 4 years of Trump, Bojo emboldened by this and pushing ahead with his illegal plan. Oh, and covid20
We were blessed to have Simon fighting for us. How he kept his counsel at times beggars belief.
The utter chaos that emanated from Westminster must have been incredibly frustrating and dreadfully hilarious in equal measure.
To have brokered any kind of deal is amazing.
Ireland is the biggest winner out of this Brexit deal. Barnier managed to get the Tories to agree to a border down the Irish sea ensuring no trade barriers/border on the island of Ireland. London’s financial services are up for grabs (Britain lost services in the trade deal) and Dublin is one of the big four in Europe now – Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Luxembourg, and Dublin. Ireland has zero-tarriff/zero-quota access to the UK market for its produce/goods. The only loss is that Irish fishermen lose 25% of their catch, but there is a road around that and that is just registering fishing vessels in Northern Ireland. There is goodwill (for peace and prosperity) between the North and South generally speaking, so should work out well.
@David Jacobsen: Thanks David thats one of the clearest summaries i have read yet. A very positive outcome for us so it seems.
@David Jacobsen: Does the North have a quota regarding their fishing fleet? I. E number of vessels that can be registered there? Just asking but thanks for your summary.
@David Jacobsen: Yes an overall excellent result in the circumstances. Our diplomatic teams played a blinder, checkmating dangerous arrogant fantsies of the Eton Mess at every turn. Also a major plus is that it woke Ireland up to the ridiculous level of dependence especially for imports that we have on the UK and the vulnerability of the landbridge. We will be far more connected economically and gradually culturally to the continent from now on, as it is clear that a political culture and way of thinking like that in the UK is realistically alien to us. New markets, links and supply chains with the rest of the EU will open up and they will not seem so ‘foreign’ to the smaller SMEs which is crucial. Overall a lot of positives. And as McWilliams correctly tells us- when you neighbour is going mad and buring his house down all you have to do is look sane.
In all the congratulating around this “deal” it seems that neither the EU, UK or media are willing to address the obvious elephant in the room..
That the “deal” is only just short of no deal and the only mechanism or sanction available to the EU in the likely event of the UK reneging on any part of the “deal” is, shifting to applying tariffs under WTO rules in a complete no deal scenario.
@David Van-Standen: I think reversion to WTO tariff rules is actually the normal sanction for breaching international trade deals.
@D Mems: Real trade deals include an agreed binding arbitration or conflict resolution process to address any issues that may arise, to give trade deals stability and longevity.
This has all the inherent stability of a hastily cobbled together last minute fudge, which is all the more atrocious, given it’s been four years in the making.
As Michel Barnier said,” Brexit is a lose lose situation”. It was always about damage limitation. David Cameron has a lot to answer for, but like Nigel Farage he did a runner. Maybe BoJo will be the next to do a runner now that” Brexit is done” so some other BoZo can sort out the mess.
How come we were told for years that Brexit could never ever be anything but a disaster for Ireland and yet here we have old Simon bumming his load about how great a Brexit deal this is for Ireland?
simon and his gang of corrupt politicians done nothing except sit on the fence and spout on , while the real deal was been made in Brussels .Now we are suppose to believe they are Gods , as we await their election promises to the people .
Does the North have a quota regarding their fishing fleet? I. E number of vessels that can be registered there? Just asking but thanks for your summary.
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