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LAST UPDATE | 28 Dec 2020
THE 27 EU member states have given the green light for the post-Brexit trade deal to come into effect on 1 January, a spokesman has said.
Ambassadors from EU capitals met in Brussels to nod through the accord, using a procedure which will take effect at 2pm tomorrow.
This will provisionally allow tariff-free trade with Britain to continue after it leaves the EU single market at the New Year.
Sebastian Fischer, spokesman for the German presidency of the EU, said: “EU Ambassadors have unanimously approved the provisional application of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement.”
The member states’ adoption of the plan allows it to come into effect in time to head off disruption of cross-Channel trade.
But the deal must still be ratified retrospectively by the European Parliament, probably in late February.
Meanwhile, Cabinet members are meeting here later today to discuss the deal.
The meeting was originally scheduled for tomorrow but has been brought forward by 24 hours to today, RTÉ reported.
Speaking to RTÉ Radio One’s Morning Ireland, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said he thinks there will be “some disruption” in ports as a result of Brexit.
“We think there will be some disruption in the ports, obviously our own ports but also in Holyhead and Dover. But this time of the year is not a very busy time of year in terms of freight, so we think we’ll be able to manage,” Varadkar said.
The Tánaiste also confirmed he will be launching a €100 million scheme today for people in the food sector affected by Brexit.
UK
In the UK, Cabinet Minister Michael Gove has been urging UK citizens to take out comprehensive travel insurance to cover health costs and check their mobile roaming policies to avoid charges if they are travelling to the EU.
He also warned businesses that the time is “very short” to make the final preparations before the UK begins trading with its biggest trading partner and minimise what he said would amount to “some disruption”.
“In just three days’ time the Brexit transition period will end and we will have finally regained our independence,” he added.
Conservative grandee Lord Heseltine urged MPs and peers to abstain when voting on Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s trade deal, warning it will inflict “lasting damage” on the UK.
The former deputy prime minister said he will “in no way share the endorsement of the legislation”, but that he will not vote against it because the consequences of a no-deal would be even graver.
But it is likely to pass through both Houses, with Labour ordering its MPs to vote for the “thin” treaty because the only other option is a chaotic departure without a trade deal.
The IPPR think tank warned that the “weaker than expected” protections in the treaty leaves workers’ rights and environmental protections at risk of erosion.
But the Prime Minister denied the UK would regress on workers’ rights and environmental standards, two issues both sides have committed to uphold in the deal.
“All that’s really saying is the UK won’t immediately send children up chimneys or pour raw sewage all over its beaches. We’re not going to regress, and you’d expect that,” he told the Sunday Telegraph.
The Prime Minister did acknowledge that the treaty “perhaps does not go as far as we would like” over access to EU markets for financial services.
But he said that Chancellor Rishi Sunak is “doing a big exercise” on business taxes and regulation alongside a “great Government effort” for change in the new year.
Sunak said the nation will be able to “do things a bit differently” now, referencing new opportunities for the financial sector, and said the deal should leave those anxious about the financial impact “enormously reassured”.
“I actually think this deal can represent an enormously unifying moment for our country and bring people together after the divisions of the past few years,” he told broadcasters.
Fishing
The chief executive of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisation (NFFO), Barrie Deas, accused Johnson of having “bottled it” on fishing quotas to secure only “a fraction of what the UK has a right to under international law”.
Deas said the Prime Minister had “sacrificed” fishing to other priorities, with the subject proving to be an enduring sticking point during negotiations.
A hasty analysis of the treaty secured on Christmas Eve began in earnest when it was published in full on St Stephen’s Day – less than a week before its implementation.
The self-styled “star chamber” of lawyers led by veteran Eurosceptic MP Sir Bill Cash and assembled by the European Research Group of Tory Brexiteers was expected to reveal its verdict on tomorrow.
But there were indications Brexit hardliners were preparing to support the deal, despite being angered by the little time they have to debate it.
Ian Blackford, the SNP’s leader in Westminster, said his party would vote against the “unforgivable act of economic vandalism and gross stupidity” which he argued is a “very bad deal for Scotland”.
Meanwhile, International Trade Secretary Liz Truss said she expects to sign a continuity trade agreement with Turkey this week, a move that was not possible until the deal with the EU was struck because Ankara is in a customs union with the bloc.
With reporting by Press Association and AFP
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Career choice and career often turn out to be two different things.
@Brendan O’Brien: When i done my leaving cert in 1999 i got very low points. I was never collage material any way. I done an apprenticeship in fitting and welding. I have worked all over the world building bridges, tunnels and oil and gas refinery’s. Home now and mortgage free at 36. Collage is not the be all to success. Even people who do poorly in school can be successful if they choose the right career.
@Jamie Jj Tobin: fair play to you Jamie – you are right – its not for everyone. but whatever you do, it is important to commit to it and take your opportunities as you seem to have done. good example for many in the next few months…
I know someone who always wanted to be a doctor but didn’t get the points so their parents (very ambitious) persuaded them to aim for teaching, I remember the father telling me “nice secure government job”, I told him if their heart wasn’t in they would regret it. Either way they did a science degree. The second it was done they turned around and used graduate entry to get into medicine.
If you want something bad enough, there is a way.
I work in a supermarket as a checkout supervisor, not the most glamour job in the world but I love it! I meet new people every day, I like to talk alot so that helps :) and I’m a good problem solver, I had good leaving cert results but money for college was a factor but I have to say I love where I am pays the bills let’s me live a decent life and I’m never hungry I could ask for more..
@Conaire DeBhairduin: What are your views on the potential of automation replacing all check outs in supermarkets over the coming years. Is this something that worries you?
@will: boom!
@will: who’ll check the check outs?, who’ll check the check out check out?
I was in a terrible place mentally, recently diagnosed and placed on medication, but was told that completing the leaving cert was my best option. I passed everything, did brilliantly in the only subject I cared for, but still not enough points to get into college. I went to further education, it was close and affordable and would give me a taste of what I could be in for from college. I completed the level 5 with a partial due to coming off of the medication and instability, then spent the next 3 years working after I moved up to Dublin. Got work hours reduced and reduced and reduced until I couldn’t afford rent, and had to move back home. Did a level 6 this year with Distinctions in all subjects, now looking to move on to do an English Bachelors at 24 and then go into teaching.
Took me 6 years before I found out what I wanted to do.
My career advise at school was,
“You may as well emigrate, there is nothing here for you.”
So I did, and had a great time before eventually returning.
@Brian McDonnell: I did the same but without having been given any advice. It forced me to become independent at 22 and was a very positive life lesson.
@Brian McDonnell:
how long ago? Just curious, as members of my family were told and did the same in the eighties.
@Denis Moynihan: Yeap….the career choice was work elsewhere or the dole here, so any job would do, from warehouses to offices, building sites to factories. As long as I could pay my way I wasn’t too fussy.
@P.J. Nolan: Late 80′s.
The notion that when you sit your leaving cert is when you should make your career choice is totally outmoded and ridiculous anyway.
My parents supported me in every step I took to get my degree but they always said that the subjects I picked to study at college was my own choice.
@davo gazeley: exactly.
Left school after a not so great leaving cert about 30 years ago, went to UK and became a Telecom Engineer in London – - 5 years later became a Commercial Diver in the Middle east – - 6 years later did a degree in Computers as a mature student and now working in the IT area. My parents did not influence me but they always had my back which is the most important thing and thats what I will try to do with my children. Do your best in the exams but try not to get worked up on it (its hard I know).There are so many avenues you can go down when choosing a career and you will change as it suits. Just be there for the kids when needed with a helping hand and supportive guidance.
The number of points I got in the leaving decided
My mother was a stripper and my father a debt collecter. I became a priest. They’re still struggling with the shame of it.
Me uncle Paddy. He gave me his old van and a gallon of diesel and said:
‘There you go kid – the world is your oyster’
I never looked back.
No. For most people, only themselves know what they want to do
My parents were very supportive of any choice I was to make. They didn’t inspire the career I would take, but they inspired me to be hard working, ambitious and to do exactly what I wanted and they would support me as much as they could. I couldn’t have asked for better.
No one’s parents should directly influence or choose their child’s career or CAO. It is up to the individual to choose a path they are interested in. Advice can go a long way, but it is ultimately your life and your choice.
TBH I don’t care what career my kids choose. I will be proud of them regardless. Though I did dissuade my daughter from putting nursing and midwifery as her first choices along with help from the guidance counselor. Weighing up pay, working conditions, social life, family life, benefit packages and so on. She has stem subjects at her 5 top options. Nursing and midwifery as last resorts.
@Lily:
So you did influence her decisions
@P.J. Nolan: not really, the guidance counselor did. I told her what i thought but she was adamant to do midwifery that was until the guidance counselor told her the realities of her choice and explored stem subjects. So really it was the guidance counselor who influenced her cao choices. I can’t force her to choose any subjects neither would I want to, it’s her life to live how she pleases. If she dose midwifery I’m sure she will be happy and I’ll still be proud though probably worry if she is eating enough, getting her legally required lunch breaks and so on.
Generally when a parent says one thing, kids do the complete opposite.
Dissuading her was just me pointing out all the bad bits of the job. But she didn’t listen until the guidance counselor advised her not to go for it. The guidance counselor didn’t know my thoughts but I was delighted that we were on the same wavelength and convinced her to do stem subjects. She really did help. Had the guidance counselor told her to stick with nursing I could accept that too.
I have much respect for people in health care. It’s a noble job.
@Lily: Jesus Christ will you go and tell that girl that she can do anything she wants! It doesn’t matter about money and life balance when you love what you do! How dare you influence a young person away from what she is telling you what she wants to do! I work long hours, weekends and not for amazing pay but with great people. I’d prefer my child was a nurse than working in a stable, well paid banking role or many others instead of working among the kindest hard working people around. Give her the approval to change her mind and don’t live through her!
Yeah my Ma was a huge influence ‘Get off your arse and get a job, you lazy shite’ worked wonders.
As the first person from my all-girls secondary school to do engineering of any sort in college it’s fair to say I wouldn’t have even considered it if my father hadn’t been an engineer. As he was a computer engineer we always had technology around the house so I had far more experience with computers than anyone else in my school. Heck when my primary school got a photocopier for the first time I was put in charge of it rather than any of the teachers and I was only 10.
I wouldn’t say parents but older sisters and brothers as well as their friends where able to give realistic advice. If you know what you want at 17 I’d almost be worried about you. It’s tough to know at any age.
Parents were supportive of my choices but never told me what I should do. School was useless, they wanted me to follow one of my parents path and do the same degree as one of them and any attempts by both me and my parents to explain that wasn’t what I was interested in fell on deaf years. Just had to grin and bare it with them while doing my own research outside school.
@ztoical: same happened from my guidance counselor. She swore I should be an accountant. Had to have her look at my last maths tests so she could understand how wrong she was.
Yes, I decided at age 17 I would never be a parent, clergyman nor have anything to do with “mental health,” whatever the f. that is…
@Paul Jennings: I take it you’re not working in comedy?
No it was the computer that told me to be a taxidermist or wig maker… Oh the 90s…. coincidentally years later I am now a careers adviser trying to add a bit more thoughtfulness to the process
I think a mistake some make is they choose a course they will enjoy rather than a career they will enjoy. If i was going back to college this is what i would tell myself before i choose a course. Dont do what you will enjoy in college because you will only be in college for 3 to 6 years, whereas you will be working for thirty years.
When I was applying to university in 1989 my father told me not do computer science as it was “played out” things worked out ok but imagine getting into the field almost 30yrs ago. Still bring it up whenever I can
Had shite career guidance teacher but other teachers were much better at proposing options that suited my aptitudes. Parents worked in the hospitality industry – they only wanted me to have a 9-5 job with weekends and bank hols off – never tried to push particular subjects
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