Designated special status must be government policy - David Cullinane TD

Responding to reports today that the Irish Government is seeking to have the post Brexit border with Britain in the Irish Sea, Sinn Fein Brexit spokesperson David Cullinane said the priority must be to secure special designated status for the North within the EU and to protect the Good Friday Agreement.

Teachta Cullinane said the government “is slowly moving to the realisation that the only way to avoid the imposition of an EU Frontier across Ireland and to safeguard the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts is for the north to have special designated status within the EU.”

Speaking today he said;

“The government to date has failed to deal with the reality of Brexit. The Taoiseach believed that the DUP/Tory pact at Westminster would be good for our Island. He was wrong. The Government had indulged the fiction of a frictionless, technological border post Brexit. It is not possible.

“So, in that sense, it is refreshing to hear of the Irish Government reviewing its position and seeking to ensure that there is no border on the island of Ireland.

“The government and the EU must come up with imaginative solutions to the risks posed by Brexit to Ireland, to our economy, the vote of the people in the north, our peace agreements and to the rights of Irish Citizens.

“The solution was agreed by the Dáil. The north should be designated special status within the EU. That is the way forward. That should be government policy.”