Opinion

Tom Kelly: Unionists need to get over whinging about Dublin interference in Brexit

The Republic's foreign minister Simon Coveney has managed to rile DUP MP and ardent Brexiteer Sammy Wilson - probably a good sign that Coveney is speaking sense, says Tom Kelly
The Republic's foreign minister Simon Coveney has managed to rile DUP MP and ardent Brexiteer Sammy Wilson - probably a good sign that Coveney is speaking sense, says Tom Kelly The Republic's foreign minister Simon Coveney has managed to rile DUP MP and ardent Brexiteer Sammy Wilson - probably a good sign that Coveney is speaking sense, says Tom Kelly

THE Brexit penny is starting to drop at Number 10. Even the Foreign Office, with its bumbling incumbent, has had to agree to the EU backstop on the Irish border - which was accepted by the Prime Minister - and then backtracked on following pressure from the DUP.

The reality is that the so-called technological solution to the border is mythical. And if it was to be created it would take years to implement.

That's years which the agri-food business, exporters and farmers can ill-afford.

Last week the farmers' unions of Scotland, England and Northern Ireland jointly called for the entire UK to remain within the customs union or in a customs partnership with the EU.

Make no mistake, these are no remoaners. In the north they are the backbone of DUP support. They voted for Brexit but just can't cope with consequences of that folly.

The farmers' unions know that if it comes to a choice, the British government will do everything to secure a deal with the EU for financial services and the city of London; and if that means hanging out agriculture, then so be it.

Farmers also know that to secure any future trade deals with the far-flung markets of Australia, New Zealand or the USA that the quid pro quo will be loaded against local food producers and agriculture.

There has been much nonsense spouted by the Brexit lobby and most of it is fiction.

During last week fishermen amongst the most hardline and unrealistic of the Brexit side were proudly singing and dancing about a new trade deal with the emirates in the Middle East. So much for not being able to trade outside of the EU.

The irony that fish caught and processed in Northern Ireland are exported via the Republic of Ireland and are marketed in the Middle East as Irish seafood was lost on no-one.

The Irish foreign minister, Simon Coveney gave a very passionate interview on the BBC that managed to rile Sammy Wilson of the DUP, which is probably a good sign that Coveney is speaking sense.

The foreign minister made it clear there is no ambiguity about the border issue. But more than that he put his finger on the central point - the border is a psychological issue.

It is what John Hume used to describe as the border of the mind. Unionists are dragging us back to that mentality without a thought to the fall-out.

Let's be clear, the border is not part of any game plan. Just as militant republicanism repeated the mistakes of past generations, so too do unionist leaders now.

The solution, as the farmers' unions have pointed out, is to stay in the customs union or agree another one. If the UK as a whole remains in such a partnership then issues about the Northern Ireland border and Scotland's aspiration to be more independent don't arise.

Conservatives and unionists who claim to cherish and protect the integrity of the United Kingdom should be cock-a-hoop at this outcome.

Their core supporters in business and agriculture support them. So too does the trade union movement. Stubbornness, intransigence and pure ideological drivel prevents the Tories and the unionists from seeing the wood from the trees.

Unionists seem aggrieved that the Irish government is taking a hard line. They forget Ireland is a sovereign nation. Yet if they fail to reach out to a Fine Gael government then their options for the future are bleak.

Unionists like Sammy Wilson are quick to talk about southern interference in northern matters. They should get over it.

One way to help them in this regard is for southern parties to organise in the north by 2021. The 'national' interest could then be redefined.

It will be redefined anyhow if Sinn Féin becomes an acceptable partner for government in the Dáil with either Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael.

Unionists are gambling on these parties rejecting Sinn Féin as being fit for government. Just as believing that northern Catholics are too wedded to the half-crown to leave the UK, the notion that Sinn Féin will be kept from Merrion Street is nonsensical.

The only thing that would prevent Sinn Féin from entering government in the Republic of Ireland would be a permanent arrangement between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

The real challenge is about how to inject some realism into this Tory government about what is actually achievable post-Brexit - and to stop peddling pipe dreams.