IRELAND’S GOVERNMENT has sought to clarify that checks will be required on any goods cross the Irish Sea after Brexit.
Foreign minister Simon Coveney told RTE that “it was very clear when the deal was done” that checks would be necessary.
“The EU has made it clear they want to minimise the impact on goods coming from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, but at the same time goods coming from Great Britain to Northern Ireland will need to have some checks to ensure that the EU knows what is potentially coming into their market through Northern Ireland.
“Goods going the other way from Northern Ireland into Great Britain will have far less requirement for checks at all, in fact it will probably be limited to an export declaration, because of course that is a matter internally for the UK.”
“So, there was always a distinction between goods coming from Great Britain into Northern Ireland versus goods going from Northern Ireland into Great Britain and we spent many hours discussing and negotiating that, and I think explaining it too.”
Boris Johnson's #Brexit deal would require checks on goods travelling from Britain to Northern Ireland, with much more limited checks in the other direction, says Ireland's Deputy PM @simoncoveney pic.twitter.com/Q9Lt6xJvJe
— Georg von Harrach (@georgvh) December 9, 2019
The clarification comes after Boris Johnson was accused of misleading the UK voting public over the nature of the deal in place.
Mr Johnson had previously indicated that the treaty he negotiated with Brussels did away with the requirement for checks or controls on any goods crossing the Irish Sea.
But despite repeated denials, Mr Coveney’s intervention appears to concur with previously leaked documents from opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, which indicated checks would be required.
