'Ireland will not be a pawn in Brexit negotiations', says Simon Coveney

The Minister made statements and answered questions at a media conference in Iveagh House yesterday afternoon. Welcoming the two UK Brexit position papers on customs, Northern Ireland and other Irish issues, Coveney also reiterated Ireland's position in the wider negotiations, saying "Make no mistake, we are part of the EU negotiating team".

Ireland cannot be walked to the “cliff edge” and “pushed over”, he reaffirmed, saying that Ireland will seek to protect its own interests, while welcoming efforts of the UK to clarify their openness to co-operation.

His statement echoes a prescient editorial from Hot Press, in which Niall Stokes wrote in The Message several weeks ago:

“It may well be a last ditch negotiating tactic, but Britain will use Ireland – north and south – as a bargaining chip in the hope of extracting a better deal from what will, almost inevitably, be a singular mess, a fiasco.

“It is unlikely to work. The EU cannot allow itself to be blackmailed, no matter how uncomfortable the situation might be for Northern Ireland – or indeed for Ireland. This is a mess of Britain’s making. Let them unmake it."

Read the full article here.