Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
AROUND 200 INFLUENTIAL figures have written to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to ask that he protect the rights of Irish citizens living in Northern Ireland.
The list of signatories include Olympic boxers Paddy Barnes and Michael Conlan, and Irish international soccer player James McClean.
Published in the Irish News today, the open letter asks that “Irish cultural traditions and Irish national identity” be protected at a time when “Brexit threatens to reinforce partition on this island and revisit a sense of abandonment as experienced by our parents and grandparents”.
“The fact that the majority of voters in the north of Ireland voted to remain will not be ignored,” it states.
We, our children and grandchildren should not be forced out of the EU against out democratic will.
Despite the British government’s co-equal and internationally binding responsibility for overseeing the Peace Process with the Irish government, we have no confidence in its commitment to do so with impartiality or objectivity.
The letter appeals to the Taoiseach for reassurance that he will protect the rights and security of citizens in Northern Ireland.
The list of signatories to the letter includes figures representing a wide range of sectors including the arts, business, education, health, law, media, sport and academia.
Last week, the EU and UK struck a deal on future arrangements on what will happen to the Irish border after Brexit.
Despite some to-ing and fro-ing, the deal reached ensured that there would be “regulatory alignment” on the island of Ireland that would ensure hard infrastructure wouldn’t be needed along the Irish border.
A commitment was also made, at the request of the DUP, that this alignment wouldn’t “compromise” the United Kingdom.
Upon the announcement that a deal had been made, Varadkar confirmed that he was “satisfied sufficient progress” had been made on Irish issues. He said the established rights of people in Northern Ireland, which had been secured in the Good Friday Agreement and other arrangements, to hold an Irish/EU passport and to allow for the free movement of people across the Irish border had been secured as part of last week’s deal.
He also laid out the options that had been discussed in avoiding a hard border that would safeguard the movement of goods and the “all-island economy”.
Despite the agreement being hailed as a success in diplomacy, the deal has been thrown into doubt over the weekend by disagreement between the Irish and UK government over how legally binding it is.
Britain’s Brexit minister David Davis told The Andrew Marr Show on BBC 1 that the deal was “more a statement of intent than it was a legally enforceable thing”.
However, the Irish government has hit back with government chief whip Joe McHugh describing the comments as bizarre. He told This Week on RTE Radio 1:
We will as a government, a sovereign government in Ireland, be holding the United Kingdom to account, as will the European Union.
Yesterday, Tánaiste Simon Coveney also tweeted out a section of the agreement with the UK that seems to contradict what Davis said.
“The commitments and the principles… are made and must be upheld in all circumstances, irrespective of the nature of any future agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom.”
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland today, Secretary for Northern Ireland James Brokenshire said that he hoped the deal between the EU and UK would “strike up a spirit of compromise” for talks between Sinn Féin and the DUP at Stormont.
“I think there can be progress,” Brokenshire said. “Once we’re through the European Council on Thursday, it will be clear that there’s a real need for them to be there [during Brexit talks].”
He said that the “real life pressures” of not having a government in Northern Ireland would become apparent “over the need for a new budget, work [for which] would normally have been well-advanced”.
“We can use it to refocus our attention,” he said.
Many of the British papers are reporting on the disagreement this morning, as UK Prime Minister Theresa May is due to address the House of Commons this morning to officially announce that a deal has been reached on Northern Ireland.
Does nobody value cheap flights? Why such snobbery over Ryanair? It does exactly what it says on the tin. I, for one, recall paying £379 to Aer Lingus in the seventies to fly one way to London from Dublin with no smiling air hostesses either as I well recall. I also remember the awful boat journeys between Holyhead and Dun Laoighre and the train journey to Euston for three times what you’d get a return Ryanair flight for now! Anyone who criticises Ryanair either wasn’t around in the bad old days or has a very short memory…
No they just cant help but put down the most successful airline in Europe, typical Irish attitude to slate and put down anything successful in Ireland by an Irish person.
Fair comment John.
My concern, would Ryanair consider moving HQ from Dublin if they had an interest in Stansted. This would remove one obstacle to buying Aer Lingus if technically they were a British airline.
They recently issued a warning regarding Irelands current corporate tax rate.
2009 Six of us being charged €550 each to fly from Krakow to Dublin by Ryanair, and you think that’s cheap? What would you call expensive?
Ryan air will switch off the lights and sell the public torches as they enter the terminal
And he’ll either rent out the seats for people to sit or, or make them bring their own, make them bring their own food, and charge them for rubbish collection.
To be fair I doubt they could do anything to ruin Stansted that hasn’t been done already.
Agreed, stanstead is one of the nastiest modern built airports iv ever experienced! I mean Heathrow is bad but stanstead is like a cow shed with windows!
I agree with you Tony, but it is one airport that i never really had problems with. Your in and out really quick. The Stansted express always has problems.
Ryanair’s trademark contempt for customer service makes the experience of travelling through Stansted both nasty and chaotic. They have already ruined the airport.
He should be running the country , your ticket is a fraction of what you paid in the 80′s ,he’s brought efficiencies punctuality cost savings value for money huge profits ( nothing the unions have ever done) new routes 1000′s of jobs and still pays all his taxes in Ireland .lastly it’s an irish success story nnWhy the whining ???
couldn’t agree more!
They do have form challenging monopolies – think Aer Lingus in the 1980s.
Plus they would only be part of a consortium and have large cash reserves built up so might as well invest them.
Hopefully there’ll be greater competition between Irish airports soon.
No flies on O’leary and if there were they would be paying rent.
He has a mush you’d love to take a penalty with.
I read an article once in which Michael O Leary said he would have people go straight from the car park onto the planes.
Obviously thats not going to happen but that is the lines in which he thinks.
Taking out all the waiting around… It sounds great! You could arrive 15 minutes before your flight rather than two hours!
Actually I think his thinking would be the opposite. If you get out of the car and on to the plane where is he going to make money on the airport? More like keep you waiting to check in for an hour or two and in the mean while why not avail of the over priced facilities. That’s the game plan that he would be looking at.
I’d reckon ryanairs aim would be to reduce their costs from the airport, and thus pass on reduction to passengers, they want bums on seats. Having a say in how stanstead operates the more say the better really, if they don’t compete with other airports they will fail so I couldn’t see this as anything but positive for customers. London has plenty of airports and they can compete. As said earlier stansted isn’t a shining light as it stands. BAA obviously prefer Gatwick (maybe that has been their plan ironically)
They sold Gatwick back in 2009. They sold it for £1.5 billion to an Investment group than control London city airport.
Seems to make perfect sense to me. Having a major airline as a shareholder (and presumably a board member) would surely help focus the airport’s efforts on efficiency etc. I think its typical scaremongering, all these comments about MO’L charging to use seats….
Why the whining he should be running the country- he’s brought value for money cost savings punctuality new destinations ( they are irish ) and he pays all his taxes in Ireland . nnWhat do people want ? He gets you to your destination what more do you want for €20 including tax nIf ye can’t go to Spain for a week with cabin baggage fair play to them for charging you extra
went to England recently. My suitcase was 14.4kg going over and mysteriously 16.6kg coming back. The only difference in my bag was a bottle of shampoo. Must have been a 2.2.kg bottle.
What airports do they control???? Comfort ? What do you want ,they bring you to your destination cheaper than anyone else. Convenience? They want to make travelling more convenient bag less check in print your own boarding pass- they are changing how we travel? Service? Ye want a coffee €2:50 ye don’t want one then don’t pay for it , they are the biggest airline in Europe and don’t get me started on the ferries Jesus!!!!!
You mean Irish ‘Latvian’ Ferries??
One of Stansted’s biggest problems is transport, especially if you are coming from North or West London.
If Ryanair take it over, I probably won’t use it again. Their facilities are appalling in any airport they control. They don’t care about comfort, convenience or service. The day will come when they start paying the price for that in lower numbers as people switch to other airlines and ferries.
only for ryanain stanstid would not exist s much ad i heat flying with them they made that airport when they left luton
I read that in my head like the policeman in ‘allo ‘allo
have your say