Sir, – Leo Varadkar must be anxiously hoping that reports that the British government is planning to undermine fundamentally the Northern Ireland protocol of the EU-UK withdrawal agreement is, as the Tánaiste claims, mere “posturing” (“Brexit: Senior Irish politicians play down “sabre rattling” from the UK on withdrawal deal”, News, September 7th).
On October 10th, 2019, after meeting Boris Johnson on the Wirral, Leo Varadkar controversially declared that “it is possible for us to come” to a “treaty agreement” by the end of October. The then-taoiseach said at the end of last year’s crucial summit that British promises ensuring the safe continuance of an all-island economy in Ireland had “today” been “achieved”.
Mr Varadkar should cross all his toes and fingers that Britain’s current Brexit proposal is, in fact, just “a certain level of sabre rattling”, and not something much more serious. The Fine Gael leader can only trust that he isn’t the latest in a long line of gullible victims of Mr Johnson’s well-known political mendacity. – Yours, etc,
JOE McCARTHY,
:fill(white):background_color(white)/static.themebuilder.aws.arc.pub/irishtimes/1647534191476.png)
Arbour Hill,
Dublin 7.
Sir, – Perhaps Dominic Cummings should go back to Barnard Castle for another eye test. He seems to be having difficulty with the fine print of the Withdrawal Agreement. – Yours, etc,
PN CORISH,
Dublin 6.
Sir, - DR Cooper deigns to tell us rather gleefully that the Republic of Ireland will suffer much worse economically than the UK from a no-deal Brexit (Letters, September 7th). In this, he is probably correct but c'est la vie. He questions whether there was nobody in Michel Barnier's Irish audience who realised this fact. Actually there was probably nobody in the audience who didn't already know as this message has been constantly articulated by Irish government leaders since the Brexit referendum in 2016.
But such a hit to the Irish economy would hardly represent a great win for the UK. One hopes that UK ambitions in the current negotiations are bigger than this.
As for his opinion that “to curry favour with Brussels Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney led the Republic up the EU garden path where it will most likely end” , Mr Cooper should know that we have been a fully committed EU member state since 1973 and our future lies with the European mainland.
Were I a UK citizen, I would be more worried about the “leadership” which resulted in the 2016 referendum result and may soon preside over a no-deal Brexit. In that eventuality, we may not have to wait too long for the break-up of the UK as Scotland votes for independence, followed in short order by a reunification of Ireland by consent. – Yours, etc,
PJ McDERMOTT,
Westport,
Co Mayo.
Sir, – Contrary to the view held by DR Cooper, it was the UK that led us up the “garden path” into the EU in 1973, and we will be forever grateful to them.
Since then we have enjoyed respect, equality and prosperity, something we were not used to in centuries of British rule. – Yours, etc,
COLETTE CUMMINS,
Stillorgan,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – What DR Cooper’s letter should tell Irish readers is that a floundering former world power will lash out at anyone it sees as vulnerable and subject to bullying. As the United Kingdom disintegrates, these characteristics will only intensify; already the Brexiteers are trying to devise ruses that will bind Scotland into the union, even if a majority of Scots want out.
We are witnessing the final death-throes of the English empire as it transmutes into a shrivelled rump that is fearful of its ability to rule Glasgow, Brixton or Tottenham, never mind the world.
As the Conservative government realises it cannot get what it wants from Brussels, inflicting collateral damage on Ireland will be one of the ways it will seek to demonstrate to its gung-ho backbenchers that it still can do something, if not very much.
They’d be better off reading the long-term projections for the British economy as a consequence of Brexit as forecast by the Office for Budgetary Responsibility, the British government’s own independent watchdog. – Yours, etc,
EOIN DILLON,
Mount Brown,
Dublin 8.
Sir, – Long ago in the days of dip-pens and open inkwell in school desks, our teacher taught us about the Treaty of Limerick and ended the lesson by saying that the English broke it before the ink was dry.
I was literally minded at the time and was puzzled. Why would they sign it and break it “before the ink was dry”? Did they all run out the door immediately to break it? What exactly did they do? Was it because the ink was not yet dry that the treaty was not binding? What kind of ink did they use? It puzzled me for years until the subject was again discussed in secondary school. I still could not tell you all the details of the treaty but I never forgot the perfidiousness of the Sasanach. – Yours, etc,
LYDIA GILLEN,
Skerries,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – A Brexit headline on the front page, a full Brexit page in the Home News section, a Brexit editorial and a Brexit cartoon, of ingenuous wit, by Martyn Turner, all congregated in the one edition of The Irish Times (September 8th).
After a turbulent six months since mid-March, I can finally relax as things have returned to normal! – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL GANNON,
Kilkenny.