This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Ireland’s prime minister, Leo Varadkar, has said his government has made “no preparations whatsoever” for a hard border on the island.

Despite the looming possibility of a no-deal Brexit, Varadkar said he felt that if the Irish government made plans to facilitate a hard border, it would become a “self-fulfilling prophecy”.

The taoiseach’s position chimes with that of the UK, where a no-deal technical notice for the Irish border was conspicuously absent from the list of those published in the autumn by the Brexit department.

Speaking at a media briefing following the publication of a 131-page document on Ireland’s contingency plans in the event of a no-deal Brexit, Varadkar said: “We are not preparing for a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.

“We have made no preparations whatsoever for physical infrastructure or anything like that. We certainly do not want it to become a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

But he said there had been talks with the UK and Ireland’s European partners about the difficulties Ireland could face if the UK changed its customs regulations.

“The answer I’ve been giving people all along is the honest truth,” he reiterated. “We’re not making plans for a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. Our focus is entirely on getting an agreement that ensures that doesn’t happen.”

The Irish government unveiled contingency plans on Wednesday to cope with a potential no-deal Brexit, identifying affected sectors that would require up to 40-50 pieces of new legislation.

It also revealed plans for border inspections at Dublin airport, Dublin port and Rosslare port.

Ireland calls no-deal Brexit plan a ‘damage limitation exercise’ Read more

Its strategy of not publishing any no-deal planning for the border with Northern Ireland echoes that of the UK and the EU, neither of which have published any contingency planning for the border communities.

The obligation on Ireland to ensure border controls is implicit in the EU’s latest no-deal paper, which notes that member states must be ready to enforce the EU customs code – the rules on goods entering the bloc.

Varadkar said the best way to avoid a border was for the Brexit deal to be ratified. He also said there was support for his position in Europe.

“There is a real understanding across the EU that this isn’t a typical border, that this is a border that goes through villages, goes through farms, goes through businesses and of course is a border that people fought and killed other people over,” he said.

On Wednesday night, the Irish government raised the issue of policing and security between Ireland and Northern Ireland, and Ireland and Britain, in the event of the UK leaving the EU on 29 March with no further access to EU shared criminal databases, fingerprinting and other intelligence.

In particular, it is concerned the UK would no longer have the power to issue or act on European arrest warrants, which would restrict its ability to ask the gardaí for assistance in catching people who flee south of the border and limit the Irish police’s ability to ask the Police Service of Northern Ireland for assistance north of the border.

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin’s Brexit spokesman, David Cullinane, has said if the UK crashed out of the bloc and a hard border ensued, a border poll on the future constitutional status of Northern Ireland would be warranted.

Northern Ireland voted 56% in favour of remaining in the EU, but Sinn Féin MPs do not take their seats in Westminster and have not been involved in the House of Commons decisions.

But Cullinane said: “The north cannot be used as a bargaining chip, no matter what type of Brexit arrives. If politicians in Britain recklessly allow a no-deal, hard-crash outcome, then the holding of a border poll must be brought forward, as the people north and south will have a clear choice – a hard border or a united Ireland.”