SIMON COVENEY was asked live on air by Sky's Adam Boulton if he felt guilty in the Irish delay to secure border negotiations.
While many welcomed the Irish government finally signing on the border agreement between Ireland and Northern Ireland, it appears there are many who have been left unimpressed.
One such person is Adam Boulton, a presenter for Sky News who took the Irish government to task in why they took so long to make a decision on the issue.
Anchorman Adam Boulton asked Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney if he thought all the hassle was necessary in reaching a conclusion: "Do think that this week’s kerfuffle has been necessary? Do you feel slightly guilty that perhaps the Irish government over-briefed what had been achieved as a victory over the British for the European Union?
"That [then] provoked the DUP and if you had been a bit more straightforward about a practical agreement at the beginning we wouldn’t have had these four days of turmoil."
Coveney smartly replied:
"Clearly that's a briefing you've been getting from the British side, we never looked for or claimed any victory over anybody.
"We have been saying for many months now that we want to work with the British government to try to find a way forward that can reassure people in Ireland as well as within the UK that we can manage Brexit and we can limit damage in the way that’s now in this agreement.
"That has always been our position and, yes of course, there has been some friction because many people have been saying, ‘look we don’t need and don’t want to give those assurances right now, we’ll deal with these issues in phase two’."
Coveney assured the anchor that Ireland's new stance of looking before leaping is beneficial to everyone:"The Irish government’s response has always been that, for us, that’s like a jump into the dark.
"We don’t know where we’re going to land, we don’t know whether we’re going to have unintended consequences and we need basic reassurance that actually certain things will not happen under any circumstances when we move onto phase two."
