Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has admitted that the European Union’s so-called Northern Ireland Protocol was “imposed” on the British province without its people’s consent, and that he has “regret” about the way this was done.
Northern Ireland is an integral part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — as the country’s name implies — but it was left effectively still inside the European Union and subject to EU law and EU judges to a very great extent with respect to customs and regulations after Boris Johnson submitted to a barely rehashed version of the half-Brexit negotiated by Theresa May.
This arrangement, the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol, has caused a great deal of anger among British unionists in Northern Ireland and even sparked violence, with the imposition of what many believe to be a maliciously over-enforced customs border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland proving a particular source of strife — and one which has led to a situation where Northern Ireland’s power-sharing regional government has been unable to form for months on end.
“In the same way Brexit was imposed on Northern Ireland without the support of both communities, the Protocol was imposed on Northern Ireland without the support of two communities,” said Varadkar, who led EU member-state the Republic of Ireland at the time of its negotiating, in an interview at the globalist World Economic Forum (WEF) summit in Davos, Switzerland.
"Ironically the Conservative and Unionist Party has left the British Union in the sorriest and most dangerous state of breakup it has ever faced. Northern Ireland has been sold on to the EU," writes @eastantrimmp. https://t.co/d2mkIFgqah
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) May 11, 2021
Remarkably, Varadkar went on to admit that he could understand why British unionists were unwilling to accept the Protocol, acknowledging that it had created internal trade barriers within the United Kingdom and had “lessened the links [and] weakened the union between Northern Ireland and Britain” while not allowing locals to “[have] a proper say as to how it operates”.
“The Northern Ireland Protocol has never had the support of [British] unionists and never will enjoy unionist support. It was imposed against the will of unionists,” said Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) — a pro-Brexit party and the largest unionist political force in the province — in comments reported by the BBC.
“Whilst the Taoiseach’s comments are welcome, rather than focus on the past, London, Dublin, and Brussels must now redouble their efforts on replacing the protocol with arrangements that unionists can support,” he added, using Varadkar’s Irish-language title.
Biden May Cancel UK Visit if London Does Not Cave to EU on Northern Irelandhttps://t.co/Ydp2pgtD0e
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) December 24, 2022
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.