TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar has warned the British Government that Ireland fully expects them to stand by the Brexit deal made in December regarding the issue of the Irish border.
Speaking today, Mr Varadkar was responding to reports in the British media that a recent request by Irish officials for a settled 'legal text' on the border issue could derail ongoing negotiations around Britain's exit from the EU.
He said: "As far as I’m concerned, the joint report that was agreed in December contains commitments and guarantees. And those are the words used, ‘commitments’ and ‘guarantees’, and they are there in black and white. The UK government signed up to them and so did the EU,” the Irish Times reports.
He added: “I’m sure they [the UK government] won’t want to renege on an agreement they only made a few months ago, and they would find it very hard to make any future agreement with Ireland, the European Union or anyone else in the world if they tried to depart from an agreement they made a few months ago.”
“I’ve every confidence that Prime Minister May and the UK government will stand by what they agreed.”
Last December, a deal between Ireland and the UK was reached, with Britain set to maintain full alignment with EU trade rules, which the Taoiseach claimed was 'politically bulletproof', providing a strong assurance against any hard border on the island of Ireland and protecting the principles of the Good Friday Agreement.
Speaking at the time, he said: "Today is a significant day for Ireland. We have achieved all we set out to achieve in these negotiations.
"This is not the end, but it is the end of the beginning."
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