RTE’s Europe editor Tony Connelly has hit back at reports in the UK that his report of a leaked draft and amended document was part of “Irish propaganda” and unintentionally led to the collapse of talks.
He said “RTE protects its sources” but he was able to confirm the leak did not come from the Irish government. He also pointed out he reported the leak at 11.15am, 15 minutes after Jean Claude Juncker confirmed to Leo Varadkar that the British had agreed the final wording.
The Irish prime minister has said he believes there is plenty of time to salvage the Irish border Brexit deal, scuppered by the DUP before it was inked.
Speaking for the second time since talks collapsed Leo Varadkarrevealed that the controversial wording for the proposal to have “regulatory alignment” between Northern Ireland and the EU post Brexit was British negotiator’s preferred option, not Ireland’s.
“There was an exchange of texts – one being regulatory divergence and no regulatory alignment.
“We satisfied ourselves on Sunday night that we could accept either of those two lines and ‘regulatory alignment’ was what was accepted by British advisers on Monday morning,” he told the Irish parliament during leader’s questions.
In the most detailed official account yet of the contents of the 15-page proposal, Varadkar revealed it provided for three potential outcomes in a final deal.
1) “UK free trade agreement that would allow free trade to continue not just north and south but between Britain and Ireland.”
2) “a bespoke arrangement involving technology and others things.”
3) if neither of this were agreed in the final Brexit deal there would be “ongoing regulatory alignment between north and south” which would have been “a back stop if all else failed”.
Varadkar told the Dail that “ball is now in London’s court” and he “very much regretted” that it was not possible to conclude matters yesterday.
For more read the full of article at The Guardian.
