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Irish government adopting a 'Dublin says no' policy on Brexit - DUP

DUP MP Sammy Wilson has claimed that the Irish government is adopting a "Dublin says no" policy i...
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Newsroom

12.44 8 Oct 2019


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Irish government adopting a 'Dublin says no' policy on Brexit - DUP


Newsroom
Newsroom

12.44 8 Oct 2019


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DUP MP Sammy Wilson has claimed that the Irish government is adopting a "Dublin says no" policy in Brexit negotiations.

Mr Wilson said the government has been "obstructionist" and that Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has badly damaged relations with politicians in the North.

Speaking on Newstalk's The Pat Kenny Show, he said: " All of those good relations seem to have been destroyed by your own Taoiseach who appears to have an agenda, either of trying to undermine Sinn Féin vote in the Irish republic by being more Sinn Féin that Sinn Féin, or endear himself to the EU.

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"I'll tell you one thing, his actions have caused real anger in Northern Ireland."

Mr Wilson went on to say that the interference by Ireland in the Brexit negotiations will have "repercussions".

He said: "I don't think that the British are going to forget the role the Irish played in trying to thwart the views of the people of the United Kingdom and there will be repercussions, repercussions I don't want to see but which I think are going to happen in the future."

According to Mr Wilson, the EU don't want the UK to leave because they are "too valuable" they don't want Britain to "ruling the world and stealing their markets in developing world".

He said; "They [the EU] have used the Irish and the Irish have been quite happy to be used to try and keep us trapped by putting up this notion that we can't leave the EU without breaching the Good Friday Agreement and causing more trouble in Northern Ireland."

He went on to say that it was "arrogant" of Ireland to get involved in the politics of another country, and that this made us "bad neighbours".

Mr Wilson said: "To even suggest that the government of one country should try to interfere in the internal political affairs of another country is sheer arrogance and if that's a game the Irish is playing then it reinforces a point which I've been making that they're bad neighbours and if you live with bad neighbours there will always be consequences.

"The Irish complained for years about Britain's interference in Ireland and now they think it's quite right for them to interfere in the affairs of Britain.

"Why are the Irish repeating the mistakes of the British in the past?"

Meanwhile, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel has told the British Prime Minister that leaving the EU with a deal is now "overwhelmingly unlikely".

Mrs Merkel and Boris Johnson spoke on the phone this morning amid indications that talks in Brussels are close to breaking down.

During the call, Mr Johnson was said to have told Mrs Merkel that his Brexit plans - which would ditch the backstop arrangement - represented a "reasonable offer", but that it was not apparent to him "there was any desire for negotiation from the EU".

A Number 10 source said: "She [Mrs Merkel] made clear a deal is overwhelmingly unlikely and she thinks the EU has a veto on us leaving the customs union.

"Merkel said that if Germany wanted to leave the EU they could do it no problem, but the UK cannot leave without leaving Northern Ireland behind in a customs union and in full alignment forever.

"She said that Ireland is the government's special problem and Ireland must at least have a veto on Northern Ireland leaving.

"Merkel said that the prime minister should tell Northern Ireland that it must stay in full alignment forever, but that even this would not eliminate customs issues."

Responding to this, DUP Leader Arlene Foster said: "“The comments from the German Chancellor to the Prime Minister that Northern Ireland must remain in the EU Customs Union forever now reveal the real objective of Dublin and the European Union.

"For the United Kingdom to be asked to leave a part of its sovereign territory in a foreign organisation of which the UK would no longer be a part and over which we would have no say whatsoever is beyond crazy.  No UK Government could ever concede such a surrender."

Irish government adopting a 'Dublin says no' policy on Brexit - DUP

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Main image: File photo of Sammy Wilson. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Archive/PA Images

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Arlene Foster Boris Johnson Brexit DUP Irish Government Leo Varadkar Sammy Wilson

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