CAMPAIGNERS have been voiced concerns that the British government has "completely underestimated" the enormity of the task negotiating Brexit.
Damian McGenity, of Border Communities Against Brexit, was speaking amid fresh claims of Tory infighting around the Brexit negotiations.
Former senior government adviser James Chapman, who was Brexit Secretary David Davis's chief of staff until the election, said the prime minister's "absolutist" positions have made life very difficult for his former boss in talks with the EU.
He suggested that Tory cabinet ministers want Theresa May to loosen some of her Brexit "red lines" because they have "hamstrung" negotiations.
Mr Davis, as the UK's Brexit secretary, is at the centre of negotiations with the EU which are of crucial importance to everyone in Ireland, north and south.
The Brexit secretary is on record as claiming that he wants to reach a deal which would confirm what he described as a `frictionless' Irish border.
However he is already in open conflict with the EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, over related issues, opposing EU's chief negotiator on Breixt that Ireland's unique position should be considered in the first stage of the talks.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4, Mr Chapman suggested Mrs May should loosen her commitment to leaving the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and hinted that Mr Davis and Boris Johnson could back a more liberal approach on immigration.
Mr Chapman said getting the Brexit bill through parliament - even with the support of the DUP - would be a challenge if her stance does not change.
"There's an enormous amount of legislation. All sorts of moments where she's going to have to carry the commons, let alone the House of Lords, with her," he said.
"So if she doesn't in my view show more flexibility, show more of the pragmatism that she did demonstrate in the Home Office, she won't get this stuff through parliament."
Speaking to The Irish News, Mr McGenity said that despite reports of Tory in-fighting over Brexit, he hoped Ireland’s interests would still be fought for on both sides of the border in negotiations.
"It is obvious that the British government completely underestimated the enormity of the task Brexit and the negotiations would be," he said.
"But the Irish government and the EU’s team will be working together to get what’s best for Ireland and that won’t change.
"Michel Barnier (the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator) has made that very clear. So whatever happens among the British government, Ireland’s position will be represented."
Border Communities Against Brexit have been campaigning for the north's majority vote to remain in the UK to be respected and for no 'hard border' to be put in place following the UK's split from the EU. They have organised a series of rallies and meetings calling for the north to have special status within the EU.
