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Taoiseach Micheál Martin has spoken to Boris Johnson and set out in “forthright terms” his concerns about the British move to unilaterally walk away from aspects of the withdrawal agreement signed last year, the Government said in a statement this evening.
Mr Martin outlined his concerns to Boris Johnson about the “breach of an international treaty, the absence of bilateral engagement and the serious implications for Northern Ireland”, his spokesperson said.
“He stressed to the prime minister that the UK government should re-engage with EU negotiators urgently.”
Earlier, unveiling the Government’s latest Brexit measures, Mr Martin said that he was “extremely concerned” at Britain’s apparent plan to “break international law” with a new bill amending the Brexit treaty.
The Taoiseach said he would register his concern in a telephone call with Mr Johnson “about Northern Ireland being dragged back into this and the potential for unnecessary divisiveness with the politics of Northern Ireland”.
“The degree to which it drags Northern Ireland back into the centre stage is very, very regrettable. It has the potential to be divisive in that context,” Mr Martin told reporters at a press conference at Government Buildings in Dublin.
The Taoiseach said the timing and unilateral nature of the admission by Northern Ireland secretary of state Brandon Lewis on Tuesday that new British internal market legislation would breach the Brexit treaty was “not an acceptable way to conduct negotiations”.
Mr Lewis told the House of Commons the internal markets Bill to be published on Wednesday will see Britain reneging on its treaty commitment to the EU.
“This does break international law in a very specific and limited way. We’re taking the power to disapply the EU law concept of direct effect required by article 4 in certain very tightly defined circumstances,” he said.
Mr Martin said the admission in the House of Commons had “taken a lot of people aback” across Europe and indeed within the UK” and was not conducive to meaningful negotiations.
He said that he spoke to the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday night about the issue and described the latest developments in London as “very worrying”.
“Meaningful negotiations can only proceed on the basis of mutual trust,” he said.
“Unilateral actions which seek to change the operation of measures already agreed including in an international treaty and incorporated into domestic law do not build trust.”
The Taoiseach said the admission by Mr Lewis was “a new departure” by the British government and raised questions about ongoing negotiations between the EU and the UK to reach a free trade agreement, and whether the UK would adhere to a deal in six or 12 months’ time.
The Northern secretary “didn’t display any subtly,” Mr Martin said of Mr Lewis’s remarks.
“I haven’t quite witnessed a member of any government go into a parliament and say we are going to break international law,” he said.
Mr Martin said he was not under any illusion that a no-deal Brexit would be “very damaging” but was of still of the view that the optimal outcome was a “proper, sensible free trade agreement”.
‘Perfidious Albion’
Later in the Dail Mr Martin told Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald the Government did not just “kneejerk react” when a particular move was made in international negotiations.
He said “I will exercise judgment in terms of both how I intervene, when I intervene and the manner of my intervention. “And sometimes it’s not all about lifting the phone because what’s at stake here is adherence to an international treaty which Ireland’s agreed to.”
Ms McDonald said “perfidious Albion is alive and well and living in number 10 Downing Street” and she was “alarmed” that the Taoiseach had waited three days to intervene on the matter.
Ms McDonald told the Taoiseach “you need to dispense with diplomatic niceties and you need to set the position very very clearly to him”. She said the stakes were very high and they could not afford to have “any hesitancy or lack of forcefulness and rigour in dealing with Boris Johnson”.
She also suggested Mr Martin was “indulging in wishful thinking” that Mr Johnson and his government “are not capable of really walking away from the commitments they have made”.
Labour leader Alan Kelly also called on the Taoiseach to “stand up and call this out for what it is”.
He told the Taoiseach “I don’t trust Boris Johnson. I know you can’t say that” but Mr Johnson would “only react to one thing and that is being called out quite publicly”. Mr Kelly told Mr Martin “you will be doing Europe and the world a favour.”
Mr Martin said however “it’s not for Ireland to get embroiled in whatever issues they have or indeed become a party to whatever machinations are ongoing in terms of these negotiations”.
Northern Ireland
Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney warned against the potential for undermining the progress made in Northern Ireland with the reestablishment of the power-sharing government.
“I would caution anyone who is thinking about playing politics with Northern Ireland on Brexit again. Northern Ireland is too fragile and too important to be used as a pawn in the broader Brexit negotiations,” he said.
“Now is not the time to reignite disagreements that have been settled with an international agreement and international law. Now is the time to do a trade deal that is good for the UK and that is good for the EU and Ireland.”
Mr Coveney said that the Government would normally receive “a heads-up” from the their British counterparts if they were announcing a new domestic plan that “may create issues.”
“None of that happened this week,” he said.
He described the developments in London as “an extraordinary change in approach from the UK government”.
“It is an extraordinary way to try to close out what is a very difficult and sensitive negotiation where trust is the most important component in terms of getting the right outcome.”
Earlier, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said he did not think there could be a free trade agreement between the UK and the EU in circumstances where the UK government is not honouring the withdrawal agreement.
Mr Varadkar said it had been an “extraordinary statement to hear from a cabinet minister in a respected liberal democracy”.
On Wednesday morning, Mr Varadkar said: “A country either abides by the rule of law or it does not, it either honours international treaties and obligations or it does not; Britain is an honest, honourable country full of honest people, it’s the country of the Magna Carta, the country that helped defend parliamentary democracy, it’s not a rogue state.”
‘Extraordinary comments’
He told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that “these were extraordinary comments. It certainly set off alarm bells in Dublin, I think they have backfired. We’ve seen the response of the Northern Ireland parties, representing the majority of the people in Northern Ireland which has been very negative, we’ve seen the response from the European Union, we’ve seen the response from US Congress and Irish America.
“I think governments are scratching their heads around the world wondering whether they should enter into treaties or contracts with the British government if this is their attitude.”
Mr Varadkar said the withdrawal agreement had been ratified by the House of Commons and the House of Lords and also the European Parliament.
“I think going back to a year ago, certainly the strategy and behaviour of the British government was one of brinkmanship, was one of threatening to crash out, ‘if we don’t get an agreement we might go kamikaze on you’, that sort of thing.
“I kind of hope this is just another instalment of this, that the most benign assessment that this is brinkmanship, this is sabre rattling if we don’t get an FTA this is what we’ll do, that’s my benign interpretation and perhaps this is just part of the negotiating process in order to come to a free trade agreement with the EU, but I don’t think we can assume it’s that,” the Tánaiste said.
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