Government ‘expects the UK’ to fulfil Brexit protocol obligations

The Government expects the UK to fulfil its obligations on the Irish protocol on the Brexit deal because it is international law, the Dáil has heard.

Minister of State for European Affairs Helen McEntee welcomed the confirmation by the UK on Thursday that "they will uphold and adhere to everything that was agreed" in the protocol, an agreement that there will be no hard border on the island of Ireland.

The protocol only comes into effect if trade talks find no other way to avoid a hard border.

An oversight committee would be put in place to oversee the implementation of the protocol and would meet at the end of the month but Ms McEntee stressed “this body will not change what has already been agreed in any way”.

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It would have representatives from Ireland, Northern Ireland, Britain and the EU.

‘International law’

Ms McEntee was speaking during a debate on last month’s EU Council meeting as the Dáil met for the second time since the general election on February 8th which did not include a vote on a new taoiseach.

She said that “regarding the possibility of reneging on the protocol, given the fact that this is international law, we expect the UK to fulfil its obligations and it has made that commitment today. We will certainly be keeping an eye on that.”

Green Party Carlow-Kilkenny TD Malcolm Noonan was among a number of TDs who highlighted the "unravelling" of the EU's agreement with Turkey on refugees.

In his maiden speech, Mr Noonan said “a humanitarian crisis of our own making is taking place along the Turkish-Greek border, where tear gas is being used on men, women and children”. He also said 18,000 people had drowned in the Mediterranean Sea, “the world’s deadliest border”.

Border security

He said the level of human suffering “is indescribable, yet the EU is set to spend €38.3 billion on border security between 2021 and 2027” and increase the number of border force guards by 10,000.

Social Democrats Cork South-West TD Holly Cairns highlighted the problems with the EU’s common agricultural policy payments and said it was unfair that a small number of farms got the “lion’s share” of payments when smaller family farmers cannot get a fair price for their beef.

The party’s agriculture spokeswoman, Ms Cairns, said there had been a “systemic and policy failure” and a few years ago she had been docked €800 from her area aid payment from the Department of Agriculture “because I had bushes encroaching on fields. In other words, I was financially incentivised to damage the biodiversity of my own farm.”