Belgian MEP Phillippe Lamberts has told Sky News the UK Government has agreed to a “Special Situation For Ireland”

This morning/afternoon

According to two well-placed sources, the text that negotiators have been working on intensively over the past five days, spell out that the UK will agree that on either side of the border there would be no divergence on EU single market and customs union rules after Brexit.

This has long been the Irish Government’s preferred solution for avoiding a hard border.

The text says that the UK has agreed that the Good Friday Agreement will be protected.

All better

UK to make Brexit concessions over NI (RTÉ)

Britain Concedes (The Guardian)

RollingNews/Sky News

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38 thoughts on “Ireland First

  1. edalicious

    I think I can hear the faint sound of someone singing “A Nation Once Again” in the distance…

  2. Nigel

    It’s a nice concession, and an important one, but the scope for the Brexiters to willfully or ignorantly or spitefully mess it all up is vast, while something like this will take goodwill and commitment to be workable. Good luck to us.

  3. Yowzah

    a red line issue for DUP surely?!? or are they bending over to reality?
    you’re not singing, you’re not singing….

  4. dav

    Not sure what we’re celebrating here, the whole thing is akin to watching a neighbour douse themselves with petrol and is now searching their pockets for that damn box of matches and their is nothing we can do to stop the idiot.

    1. Nigel

      At this point we’re engaged in a process of blowing out their matches in the hopes that they’ll sooner or later wander accidentally into a car wash.

  5. Sham Bob

    Fudgetastic! The phrase ‘regulatory alignment’ – does that specifically refer to current regulations, or does that give scope for us to more closely align with future UK regulations?

    Either we’ll be a special case within the EU or NI will be a special case within the UK – I imagine the DUP/Tory Hard Brexiteers will be pushing for the former.

  6. Charger Salmons

    Mmm,lets wait and see the wording first.
    RTE’s Tony Connolly initially tweeted ” no regulatory divergence ” from the draft text and then backtracked later to correct himself by saying it had since been updated to ” continued regulatory alignment. ”
    That is a very long way from NI continuing to stay in the Customs Union and Single Market which was Ireland’s original hope.
    Remember, in many month’s time when the UK and EU will be close to signing a trade deal Ireland’s bargaining position will have evaporated.
    I’d also be very surprised if Arlene Foster isn’t fully aware of the compromise deal that has been reached and is keeping her powder dry.
    If I was Theresa May now I’d be pretty happy at the mood music coming out of Brussels – trade talks to start in the New Year,a deal on the bill which is far less than the original sums being discussed and a nice fudge over the Irish border which saves Varadkar’s face back home.
    Some people on here have a lot to learn about negotiations.

    1. Ban the Poo. Ooh-er!

      lol you’re spot on in fairness

      Still it’s an UK concession no matter what way you look at it

    2. TheRealJane

      Indeed, the key to successful negotiation is to insist on red lines, concede them all at the last minute and then pretend it was your brilliant idea all along.

    3. Sham Bob

      I think he’s right, and celebrations are very premature. This is the Irish border question put on the backburner without specific proposals until the rest of the negotiations are at a far more advanced stage.

      So that was a good bit of our leverage gone. As an EU27 member I presume we get another veto along with the other member states further down the line, but there’s no way we’re going to go solo on that. We’ve already caved to a combination of pressure from the UK press, and ego-massaging from the EU.

      1. Charger Salmons

        There are people on here discussing the matter sensibly at the bar while the usual gullible gombeens are out in the street being the best supporters in the world.
        Ireland has known all along that Britain couldn’t commit to anything substantial until a trade deal with the EU is done.
        If and when that deal is done why should the current ” regulatory alignment ” be any different ?
        And why on earth would Theresa May sign up to a deal that she knew would instantly bring down her government if the DUP objected ?
        It’s the Irish and British diplomats who’ve been burning the midnight oil in Brussels over the weekend who should take credit for a compromise that gets everyone off the hook.
        I don’t see it as an Irish or UK win or lose situation but a compromise aimed at getting trade talks started that will benefit Ireland and the EU.
        That’s got to be a good thing for all involved.

  7. The Old Boy

    “Maggie Thatcher can you hear me? Your boys took a hell of a beating! Your boys took a hell of a beating!”

      1. Ban the Poo. Ooh-er!

        it follows her playbook to a tee

        She’d make a big song and dance then sign away Britain to ruin

  8. Brother Barnabas

    Nicola Sturgeon talking now about exploring legal options:

    “If one part of the UK can retain regulatory alignment with EU and effectively stay in the single market, there is surely no good practical reason why others can’t”

    How long before London, Leeds, Bristol, Manchester, Cardiff, Brighton, Leicester, Newcastle and York all start looking for the same?

    Might be time for May to hatch the Grand Plan. (There is one, of course, right?)

    1. Go A Way

      Wishful thinking

      Nicola sturgeon has limited political capital after the drubbing she got in 2017, DUP on the other hand are right there in the organ grinder

    2. Charger Salmons

      Scotland doesn’t share a land border with the EU.
      Sturgeon knows this but as she’s gone very quiet over IndyRef2 as opinion has moved heavily against independence she’s got to have something to say.
      Scotland is an irrelevance in terms of the Brexit negotiations.

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