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A TRADE DEAL between Ireland and the UK has been made more difficult because the Prime Minister is “fixed on a harder Brexit”, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said.
Speaking at a media briefing in Dublin, Leo Varadkar said that the Government’s top priority in the new year will be guiding Ireland through the UK’s exit from the UK, due on 31 January.
Varadkar says the deal negotiated with the UK gives Ireland important guarantees, including preventing the re-emergence of a hard border between North and South, however trade remains an open question.
“What is still, of course, wide open, is what will happen on trade, when it comes to the future trading relationship between the EU and Ireland on one hand, and the UK on the other, and that is really so important,” he said.
This is existential for our economy, because so much of our economy is dependent on trade, particularly the agri-food sector but also the manufacturing sector as well.
“It is going to be difficult to secure a good trade deal for Ireland, principally because Boris Johnson has fixed on a harder Brexit than we anticipated under his predecessor, or at the time of the referendum, and that is one where he talks very much about divergence.
“You’ll see what’s happening in Westminster at the moment, where the guarantees on workers rights, for example, are being deleted from the agreement, and that’s a real concern for us.
While we want free trade and unfettered access to the British market, we do want there to be a level playing field.
“A common set of standards that we all sign up to, we don’t want to trade with a Britain that undercuts us, that has lower financial standards, has lower product standards, lower health and safety standards.
“The whole point of the European Union has been to have convergence and fair competition, more competition, but also people converging upwards in terms of labour rights and standards, environmental standards, over the years.
“The British Government have to work very hard to maintain the unity of European 27 to make sure that we have a level playing field on the common core standards.”
The second reading of Johnson’s Withdrawal Agreement was passed with a majority of 124 – 358 votes to 234 – in the House of Commons today, but Varadkar added he was still concerned about Brexit, despite the Withdrawal Agreement being ratified.
“The harder approach being taken by Prime Minister Johnson is a risk to us and that is evident,” he said.
“At the same time, what he has said is that he wants to have exactly what we want, which is quota-free, tariff-free access to each other’s markets with the minimum amount of bureaucracy and checks.
“What he has said is that he doesn’t want there to be alignment. However there are different ways of achieving things than alignment.
“There is also equivalence and there is also the possibility of a common minimum floor of standards. That is the kind of thing that we are going to have to work on.
“It is going to be a tall order to get that agreed and ratified by the end of 2020.”
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Is this like jobsbridge but overseas?
How many billions have the countries mentioned spent on arms and wars in the past few decades alone?
There are thousands of Irish families in severe need, get that sorted before looking overseas for people to help.
we need all our volunteers at home to try and sort our own country out,could we just curtail the do gooding for a while,i think at this stage we are not respected for all our relentless do gooding we do,,we are probably look on as fools in some quarters.
What? Volunteering to help the worlds poorest is a bad thing? Encouraging people to expand their horizons and to help others, while doing good is bad?
Noel we have many volunteers in this country, I’m in my final year studying community development with little job prospects at the min of a job in what I’d like to. I’d rather use my 4 years education in overseas development as a volunteer and gain experience as in Ireland if I were to volunteer in this kind of work people would be saying it’s job displacement which of course it is. Now you see my situation which of the two is more beneficial to me and the community here and overseas, a year overseas working and developing my professional skills or be another statistic on the live register
Large scale aid, corruption, mass immigration along with the other globalisation policy of fractional reserve banking foisted onto the 3rd world thereby creating a massive debt burden have a lot to do with keeping Africa in poverty. The worst thing one can do is strip a country’s people of their will to fight, become resourceful or independent & siphon off the people who are most capable & energetic to effect that change. A draw down of aid, end to mass immigration, whilst fostering help in other ways would in the longer term end the cycle of constant impoverishment in the 3rd world.
How many billions in aid have we sent in addition to the above volunteer efforts for decades. Yet if indigenous Europeans wish to protect their ethnicities, protect their ethnic territories, they are told by the recipients of our generous never-ending aid, that we are evil & racist.
Volunteers me ar*e! They’ve been goin out foreign for the past 50 years and what have the done to help long term??? Nothing!! Leave them fend for themselves for once and they might start getting off their arses and help themselves!
Charity begins at home!
The immigration industry & Immigrant Council of Ireland have deemed your comment to be racist. You are being investigated for hate-speech & thought-crime.
Volunteer my arse, for what? To make some CEO a nice bonus on the back of my hard work or provide a nice election setup to a candidate claiming my work. Thats what it is really about. money ,power ,political movement, not helping people.
Some very disappointing negative opinions around volunteering. I had the pleasure of volunteering in Malawi in a clinical professional capacity for almost 6 months in 2012/13. The opportunity was very worthwhile and I believe one grows and matures in many ways from the experience. I self-funded this time away. Many are unaware that volunteering is very costly. Including opportunity cost and actual costs of flight and daily expenses I estimated that it costed €30,000 for 6 months. On this basis might it be worthwhile that the Irish government perhaps contribute less financially to individual countries but support individuals who wish to go to these countries? Additionally, I would like by law (similar to mat leave) job protection for individuals who volunteer in developing countries. In other words if an employee wants to volunteer abroad the same job protection right are afforded as a female going on mat leave.
So true it ain’t like there’s too many jobs out at home
I am too self obsessed for the volunteering lark but at least I admit it.
Though I would gladly volunteer to help the needy in Australia providing I got my flight, food and accommodation all paid for me.
have your say