The DUP has been at loggerheads with the Irish government since the start of the week.
The tension began when it became apparent that the EU and United Kingdom were close to agreeing a Brexit deal that would have seen Northern Ireland’s regulations converge with those of the EU, without those same rules applying to the rest of the UK.
The DUP has argued that the deal was Ireland’s way of facilitating an economic break-up of the United Kingdom. The Irish government has since remained insistent that it does not want any substantive changes made to the text of the deal.
Today Nigel Dodds, Deputy Leader of the DUP, who currently support the Conservative government in the UK through a confidence and supply arrangement, accused Taoiseach Leo Varadkar of “playing a dangerous game.”
“The longer there is delay in getting onto the second phase of the negotiations about a trade deal, the greater the prospect of a “no trade deal” outcome.”
“The Irish Republic would suffer far worse economically from no trade deal than the United Kingdom.”
Dodds claimed that Ireland takes in billions through sales to the UK and that “tens of thousands of jobs are at stake.”
“Mr Varadkar may try to appear calm on the surface but he is playing a dangerous game — not with us but with his own economy.”
New statement from Nigel Dodds: "Leo Varadkar is playing a dangerous game with the Irish economy" pic.twitter.com/fibHVTF1jc
— Richard Chambers (@newschambers) December 6, 2017
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