The Taoiseach's hardline stance on the backstop risks bringing back a hard border and destabilising the Good Friday Agreement

He has backed himself into a corner. He doesn’t understand the Good Friday Agreement and he’s jeopardising the peace process. He’s risking a no-deal Brexit and a hard border on the island of Ireland. Yet Leo Varadkar attracts little criticism.

He continues to defend his Brexit policy with a brave face but, like a poker player who has raised the stakes too high, he must surely feel his stomach churning as he contemplates the consequences of his gamble. When Varadkar became Taoiseach, back in 2017, the most pressing decision he faced was how to handle Brexit.

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Britain’s vote to leave the European Union was obviously unwelcome. It was a nasty reminder that British decisions can still impinge on Irish sovereignty and that, thanks to geography and history, Ireland’s interests remain closely aligned with those of the UK.

Most obviously, there is the Northern Irish peace process, where both parties are guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement. There are economic interests, too. Ireland imports more from the UK than from any EU country. We are Ireland’s second biggest European export market. Eighty-five per cent of Irish freight trade to Europe goes through British ports. A no-deal Brexit would be a catastrophe for Ireland.