This is absolutely spot on.
Bobby McDonagh, the former Irish Ambassador to the UK, hit the nail on the head with his comments on Ireland’s Brexit position in an interview on Tuesday night.
Speaking on BBC Newsnight, McDonagh was asked what Ireland have to lose by accepting a compromise with regards to abandoning the backstop.
He replied brilliantly, saying: “To say the Irish Government and the European Union should abandon the backstop because of the UK crashing out is saying we should shoot ourselves in the left foot because somebody is threatening to shoot us in the right foot.
“I wish the new government well, but the Irish Government and the European Union as a whole, are really pretty comfortable sitting on their only two red lines – which is the defence of their own nature and the single market, and the protection of the most important and difficult, and successful peace process in modern history.”
You can take a look at a clip of McDonagh’s comments here:
"To say the Irish Government should abandon the backstop because of the UK crashing out is saying we should shoot ourselves in the left foot because somebody is threatening to shoot us in the right foot”
Bobby McDonagh former Irish Ambassador to UK#newsnight | @BobbyMcDonagh1 pic.twitter.com/vNsCRcfgzV
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) July 30, 2019
McDonagh shared the clip on his own Twitter account, along with the caption: “Although vast majority of British people are friends of Ireland, there are still some alas who don’t grasp that we have interests of our own (or even that we are entitled to have interests).”
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