‘Now, more than ever, we need to prepare’

OPINION

Thomas Byrne TD, Minister for European Affairs

It was the British Prime Minister Harold Wilson who famously said that “a week is a long time in politics”. Nothing truer could be said of the last seven days.

On Sunday last, 5th September, Peter Foster of the Financial Times broke the news that the UK was preparing legislation to override key parts of the withdrawal agreement and the Northern Ireland protocol.

I must confess I was initially dubious about the story. The idea that the UK government would even attempt to breach the terms of a legally binding, international agreement, to which they willingly signed up to as recently as January of this year, sounded alarming.

While Monday brought murmurings that there may in fact be some substance to the rumour, it was just after lunchtime on Tuesday that Brandon Lewis, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, got to his feet in the House of Commons and confirmed to the world that the UK Government did indeed intend to break international law.

Never in my lifetime have I heard an elected representative confirm that a government intended to break the law. The seriousness of the statement is worth reflecting on. How can a government expect its citizens to abide by the rule of law, when it has no respect for the concept? The resignation of Sir Jonathan Jones was unsurprising in the circumstances.

The qualification was equally absurd. Mr Lewis attempted to explain away the startling revelation by asserting that they only intend to break the law “in a very specific and limited way”. One wonders how that defence would play out in Trim Circuit Court.

Wednesday saw the publication Internal Market Bill which provides for certain parts of the withdrawal agreement to be modified by the UK parliament. In other words, the UK parliament would have the power to override those parts of the withdrawal agreement that it didn’t like.

That night, An Taoiseach, Micheal Martin, phoned Mr Johnson and made the position of the Irish government absolutely clear. He called on Mr Johnson to withdraw the offending clauses of the Bill to restore some semblance of trust in the negotiating process. Moving ahead with it could threaten not only to destabilise the ongoing trade negotiations with the EU, but would undermine the stability that has underpinned the gains made since the Good Friday Agreement.

The meeting of the EU-UK Joint Committee on Thursday was extraordinary. In a formidable show of unity, all 27 memberstates were present. This unity has also been evident in phone calls I have had with my European counterparts over the past number of days. Following the Join Committee meeting, Commission Vice President, Maros Sefcovic echoed the sentiments of An Taoiseach in stating that the Bill had seriously damaged trust and that those parts of the Bill that violate the Withdrawal Agreement must be withdrawn by no later than the end of the month.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, also made clear that if the Bill proceeds in its current form, any chance of a UK-US trade deal would be dead in the water.

Friday brought the startling news that Boris Johnson was urging conservative MP’s to support the Bill because it apparently protects peace in Northern Ireland. This assertion does not stand up to any kind of scrutiny, and in fact the opposite can be said to be true, as even former British Prime Ministers have made clear. In an article written jointly with Tony Blair and published in the Sunday Times, they correctly state that the Internal Markets Bill “negates the predictability, political stability and legal clarity that are integral to the delicate balance between the north and south of Ireland that is at the core of the peace process".

There is no doubt that this week’s events have damaged the relationship of trust between the EU and the UK. Our relationship with the UK is crucial to the peace process but there is no doubt the unilateral actions of one side has put a strain on it.

Last week An Taoiseach, Micheal Martin, launched Ireland’s updated Readiness Action Plan. The Plan clearly sets out the actions that citizens and business trading to, from and through the UK need to take before the 31st December 2020 deadline. It also provides details of the supports that Government has made available to help with those preparations (gov.ie/Brexit). Now, more than ever, we need to prepare. Even the best possible outcome of negotiations will result in significant changes.

This Op-Ed piece first appeared in Tusday's paper.