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THE EU’S FORMER Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has said that a “clever solution” should be found to a diplomatic row, where the UK is refusing to give the EU’s ambassador to London full diplomatic status.
The UK is refusing the ambassador Joao Vale de Almeida this status based on the EU being an organisation rather than a nation; but this is in contrast to other non-EU countries’ approach.
Barnier said that he understood that things cannot stay the same after Brexit, but said that “it would be wise” if a solution were to be found.
The EU’s former chief Brexit negotiator was speaking as the European Movement Ireland awarded Barnier as ‘European of the Year’, and is the first non-Irish citizen to win it.
In a Q&A session after receiving the award, Barnier said it was very important to him that “we have to understand why 52% of the British people voted against Europe. There are reasons. We have to listen, we have to understand, we have to answer”.
“It’s too late for the UK, but it’s not too late for other member states. We have to be pro-active to draw the lessons,” Barnier said. “I have no longer this feeling that another EU member state would be tempted to leave, but we have to be vigilant.”
In his speech accepting the award, Barnier said that Brexit for Ireland was less about trade and customs, and more about “maintaining peace and stability”, and so he and his team tried to be “particularly attentive” to all the different communities in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Addressing the pro-Brexit argument of sovereignty over close unity, Barnier said that national and European sovereignty should be pulled together, rather than pulled apart: “They go together like these two flags behind me.”
Why should we leave the EU debate to anti-EU parties? Why? … For all those who believe in the EU project, this is not the time to sit back and be complacent.
The former French minister also used a number of phrases as Gaeilge, including “ní neart go chur le chéile”.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that Barnier’s “resourcefulness and integrity”, and ”consistent, fair, de-dramatised” approach made a Brexit deal possible.
He praised Barnier’s “very particular bond between you and people in Ireland”, recognising challenges facing Ireland and the importance of protecting the Good Friday Agreement.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said that during the arduous Brexit talks, that Barnier “never faltered”.
“You asked for one thing when this is all over: a quiet and peaceful fishing trip in Ireland,” Coveney said.
In the last weeks of the trade negotiations, Barnier said that Coveney spoke to him two or three times a week on fish stocks with “a lot of competence, it’s not so often that a Foreign Affairs minister is so competent on fisheries”.
It had been reported by the Telegraph that Barnier has become an adviser on the Brexit agreements to the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. Barnier confirmed this, and said that it would only be for a few weeks – perhaps two months.
The European Movement (EM) Ireland is an independent, not-for-profit organisation, that works to develop the connection between Ireland and the European Union.
The ‘European of the Year’ award recognises and honours individuals and organisations that have made outstanding contributions to developing the connections and the relationship between Ireland and Europe.
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These projects are really good for kids. And teachers like that are worth their weight in gold.
@Marg murphy,
They’re not kids, they’re 18-22 year olds, and this looks like something you would see in the jungle.
Talk about dumbing down.
@eamon go back to bed
@Donnacha Bhoicaire,
You’re easily impressed, no wonder Ireland’s colleges have such low rankings.
GMIT is far behind MIT.
@eamonn. I should have read beyond the first line the article where I read “schoolchild”. I thought it was a primary school project.
@Marg murphy,
Yes, if it was young children who built it, then it would be impressive.
Eamon Mac I really feel sorry for you and your negative life. It’s very sad for you
You don’t really seem like someone people would like.
Tis a little on the exposed side for a winter classroom.
Good for cider parties in the summer though.
Good thinking.
Robinson Crusoe would be proud of you.. !!
You can’t be doom and gloom all the time, sometimes a bit of been positive can lift you up.
Agreed
Housing problem solved, no morgage.
Well you can’t beat there optimism about the weather!
Fantastic to see how rapidly Mayo civilisation is advancing.
This is simply awesome. Yes it’s not brick and mortar boring thinking that would leave a huge carbon footprint. It’s out of the box thinking that encourages more out of the box thinking. I remember looking out glass windows of lecture rooms on a nice sunny day wishing for something like this. The fact that brick and mortar buildings are assumed to be a “continuous improvement ” from such structures as this makes one think about construction methods and it’s success could probably be measured by the pride that all involved have when they look at it. Large scale team building exercise with a functional result that can be used by many. Not all will see but not all have creative ability and less have creative ability with follow through. Congratulations to you all.
Thank you for your comments Croistoir. The project is part of an ongoing Green Campus initiative under Local Agenda 21 funding. The students explored the principles of place based education whilst constructing the classroom. The module that students were taking which this project is part of was sustainable environmental management. If you require any further information please contact me via the Facebook page.
Aodan
There’s an awful lot of ar$eholery in this thread.
See if you can spot who I’m on about.
I’ll post the answer in a short while. :-)
Eamon MacGowan?
Too easy
Well at least it’s air -conditioned!
Great to be able to do this without planning permission, wheelchair access, fire restrictions etc……..
It’s part of an environmental sustainability management module, exploring the principles of placed based education. It for the entire community not just the college but for local national schools and youth organisations.
Amazing health & safety has not shut it down !
They’ve been watching too much Bear Grylls.
I hope they wont be given the job of designing social housing.We might freeze to death!
Yeah wow fair play, threw it together as a wee little project!
When the sad fact remains that millions of children around the world do actually have their whole schooling in such lacking facilities due to poverty.
This is so Irish, any old halfhearted effort will do.
Shure it’s grand!
Relax eamon I’m sure it was meant as an exercise to get some youngsters out of a lecture hall and thinking outside the box, no one, well except Gerard, was suggesting this was the solution to all the worlds ills
Get some help Eamon. You appear to have a major malfunction. Well don’t gmit
Racist comments, to me, are suggestive of a certain tardiness with regard to the evolutionary process.
It doesn’t look a bit impressive to me.
A bit naff.
Students should be out protesting and throwing stones at the police.
Not wasting their time building such ridiculous childish tree houses.
P.S
I built a better tree-house than that when I was 9 years old.
Erm, can I ask is it hurricane proof?
Are you thinking of teaching a class there during one of our frequent hurricanes?
I could be cynical and point out how hedge schools came into my mind when I first saw this article. The country was under an administration that cared little for the common people at that point. Some things don’t change
have your say