“Too important an issue to be spinning inaccuracies.”
Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has hit out at an article in The Sun about a supposed Brexit standoff over the Northern Ireland border.
The article in The Sun, penned by political editor Tom Newton Dunn, claims that that Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is adopting a firmer stance on maintaining an open border with Northern Ireland only due to pressure applied by Sinn Féin’s Gerry Adams.
The article claims that Varadkar is insisting that Northern Ireland remain a part of the single market and customs union post-Brexit, but that the Taoiseach, Ministers purportedly told the paper, ‘has only been forced to adopt the stand under heavy political pressure from Gerry Adams’ Sinn Fein’.
Responding to Newton Dunn, who posted a link to the article on Twitter, Minister Coveney, who is in attendance at the Fine Gael Ard Fheis this weekend, said: “This article is nonsense. Irish Govt is consistent and firm on preventing Hard Border. Too important an issue to be spinning inaccuracies!”
This article is nonsense. Irish Govt is consistent and firm on preventing Hard Border. Too important an issue to be spinning inaccuracies!
— Simon Coveney (@simoncoveney) November 11, 2017
The article also claims that Sinn Féin ‘are set to make big gains in new elections to the Dáil, which could come soon if Mr Varadkar’s weak Fine Gael government collapses’ and references comments made by Brexit Secretary David Davis on Friday that a new border would not be created inside the United Kingdom.
Speaking at the Fine Gael Ard Fheis on Friday night, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said: “There can and there will not be a return to a border on this island.”
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Conor Sketches | Tiger Woods loves Ger Loughnane and cosplaying as Charles LeClerc
