CILLIAN MURPHY has laid waste to the Brexit and the idea Ireland should bend to the will of the UK Government by doing away with the Irish backstop.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is refusing to renegotiate the terms of Britain’s departure from the European Union unless the idea of the backstop is taken off the table.
The Irish backstop is supposed to serve as an insurance policy in the Brexit negotiations, ensuring the Irish border remains open whatever the outcome.
The UK government’s main objection stems from the fact the backstop would mean the UK remained closed aligned to EU customs rules, albeit with some regulatory differences between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
However, such an outlook fails to take into account the socio-political impact of doing away with it, in a move that could spark more problems between the factions in Ireland and Northern Ireland that previously clashed during a period known as “The Troubles”.
Johnson’s steadfast refusal to countenance the backstop could not only bring about economic instability but could undo much of what was achieved in the Good Friday Peace Agreement between the two sides.
It’s a situation that has left Murphy, who moved back to Ireland four years ago after 14 years in London, frustrated to say the least.
Speaking to The Guardian on the subject, the Peaky Blinders actor held nothing back, stating that he was glad to be living in Dublin and a “very liberal island that is an outlier” compared with our friends across the Irish Sea.
It wasn’t long before his anger over Brexit boiled to the surface.
“The Good Friday agreement was predicated on there not being a border and to think that you can hold Ireland to ransom, you can’t …” he said.
“Listen, if you and I are in a club and there are 28 members of the club and I decided to leave, why would I get preferential treatment? Doesn’t make any sense.”
“And if Ireland is a member of that club and me leaving undermines their whole set-up and the peace they have, it doesn’t make any sense, and it’s not equitable or fair and it’s because the whole thing was sold on a bunch of misinformation.”
Murphy went on to lambast the flawed Brexit vote for its lack of a clear and defined choice.
“It was a binary choice. There’s no nuance, you can’t put any of that into a referendum,” he said.
“You can say, ‘yes, we’ll leave the EU’, but no one knew how.”
Murphy is set to return to our screens for the fifth season of Peaky Blinders.
The first trailer for the new series landed last month. It is expected to air later this year.
