Tag Archives: Brexit

This afternoon.

Thornton Manor, Wirral, Cheshire, England.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a three-hour meeting – at online sleuth Coleen Rooney’s 21st birthday party venue – where the pair emerged with the following statement:

Hmm.

Varadkar and Johnson say they can ‘see a pathway to a possible deal (RTÉ)

Inside Boris Johnson’s Brexit mansion where Coleen Rooney celebrated her 21st birthday party (Liverpool Echo)

Pics: Noel Mullen via Rollingnews

Update:

“I think all sides would like there to be an agreement next week at the council if possible, and obviously there’s a further deadline after that, the 31st of October, so I would say a short pathway rather than a long one.

“What this is about is securing an agreement that works for the people of Ireland and also the people of Britain and Europe. If it works for the people of Ireland, what it means is, avoiding a hard border between north and south.

“That’s always been our primary objective, ensuring that the all-island economy can continue to develop, and that north-south cooperation, envisaged by the Good Friday Agreement, can resume. Those are our objectives, this has always been about achieving those objectives, and I think today they can be achieved.”

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar this evening at Liverpool Airport heading back to Dublin.

From left: Fine Gael general election candidate Mary Newman Julian; Offaly Fine Gael TD, Marcella Corcoran Kennedy

Offaly Fine Gael TD, Marcella Corcoran Kennedy has claimed the Green Party’s budget proposals are “positive proof that they have an anti-rural agenda.”

“Implementation of Eamon Ryan’s alternative budget would result in higher taxes, ongoing roads projects being shelved and future projects cancelled in Offaly,” the former junior minister stated.

“The Greens’ budget document does not contain a single policy on the biggest issue facing Offaly and country – Brexit,” she added.

“The Greens have indicated they will increase VAT on fertiliser at a time when farmers are already under pressure.

“They have also called for a re-introduction of a €10 air travel tax on all passengers departing Irish airports. This would negatively impact our tourism industry, a critical part of the rural economy already facing the threat of Brexit.

From an article in the Offaly Express on Tuesday.

‘A bit rich’ – Green Offaly councillor hits back at Fine Gael criticism (Offaly Express)

“The Green Party’s budget proposals are positive proof their leadership knows little about real life in rural Ireland, Fine Gael general election candidate Mary Newman Julian has said.

Implementation of Eamon Ryan’s alternative budget would result in higher taxes, ongoing roads projects being shelved and future projects cancelled in Tipperary.

And on top of this, Ms Newman Julian said the Greens’ budget document did not contain a single policy on the biggest issue facing Tipperary and the country – Brexit.

“The Greens have indicated they will increase VAT on fertilizer at a time when farmers are already under pressure.

“They have also called for a re-introduction of a €10 air travel tax on all passengers departing Irish airports. This would negatively impact our tourism industry, a critical part of the local economy in Tipperary, already facing the threat of Brexit.”

From an article on Tipperary Live, also on Tuesday.

Rob writez:

This is pretty much the same article from two different Fine Gaelers…

Anyone?

Tipperary FG candidate slams Budget proposals from Green Party (Tipperary Live)

Previously: ‘Propaganda Is Something You Pay For’

“Part Of Our Deal Is That We Don’t Have Any Moniker Such As ‘Advertorial’”

Then Liberal Part MP Winston Churchill’s idea to promote ‘the temporary absence of the representation of Ulster’ in the event of Home Rule

Century Ireland writes:

Satirical magazine ‘Punch’ offers a tongue-in-cheek suggestion for how a border in Ireland might be created….

Churchill proposes partition of Ireland (Century Ireland)

Meanwhile...

Mick Fulcher writes:

Sweden is in the EU Norway isn’t.

And this is their idea of a ‘hard border’

Ever get the feeling you’re being lied to?

Anyone?

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson (left) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel

This morning/afternoon.

Via BBC:

A No 10 source says a Brexit deal is “essentially impossible” after a call between the PM and Angela Merkel.

Boris Johnson spoke to the German chancellor earlier about the proposals he put forward to the EU – but the source said she made clear a deal based on them was “overwhelmingly unlikely“.

They also claimed she said a deal would never be possible unless Northern Ireland stayed in a customs union.

Brexit: Deal ‘essentially impossible’ after PM-Merkel call – No 10 (BBC)

Getty

Meanwhile…

Um.

Via Nigel Dodds

Dara Doyle, of Bloomberg, tweetz:

Pensive looking Leo Varadkar this morning, at E&Y jobs launch…

Few enough words from Leo Varadkar beyond saying we are entering a potentially “rocky” period with Brexit ahead. Yes indeed.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was at E&Y’s headquarters in Dublin this morning for the firm’s announcement of 650 new jobs across Ireland.

EY to create 600 jobs over the next 12 months (The Irish Times)

Earlier: You’ve Got Mail

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCgDAD9_0Cc&feature=youtu.be

Dear Boris by Stephen Murphy.

Dear Boris,

I’d been trying to ignore you, like some elderly relation
Who always seems to wait until a formal situation
To illustrate their ill-considered, prejudicial views
About the geo-political landscape or whomsoever they may choose.

But unlike that drunken uncle, who’ll grow sober and repent
It appears as though you’ve founded your entire government
On the premise of your own innate colonial ambitions
Where the rhetoric of fear, and hate, and all the old traditions
Have been dragged out of the grave and surreptitiously revived
By a xenophobic wave of politicians who’ve contrived
To redefine democracy, and turn it on its head
To hide the true plutocracy that governs in its stead.

But I grew up by the border, and I have family North and South
So it’s hard to just ignore the kind of bigotry you spout
When you can understand ‘The Troubles’ for the Civil War it was
And not some act of ‘folly’ or ‘The tail wagging the dog.’

And yeah, it’s true I am a Murphy, but my Grandad was a Sproule
And his father died in World War One when he was 12 years old
Who stood beside his fellow men to serve King George the 5th
At a time when men could still pretend and propagate the myth
That war was ever more than just a plaything for the rich
So while you talk about ‘Surrender’ now and ‘Dying in the ditch’
I just wish that you’d remember how that history was real
And not just propaganda for the prospect of a deal.

But I’m not so Euro-Centric to be utterly naïve
And I can understand the logic in why Britain voted leave
I mean – besides the flagrant lies and the mass manipulation
I can empathise with how the past would lead to a frustration
To see how once ‘Great’ Britain’s been belittled and reduced
To a bit part in the greater whole that Europe has produced.

‘Cause I’m not some classic advocate extolling the E.U.
I’m all too well aware to know that we’ve been shafted too –
We’ve had 42% of Europe’s banking debt
Inflicted on our people, though some would soon forget
The threat the ECB’s Jean Claude Trichet made
That a bomb would go off in Dublin if that fraud wasn’t repaid
Who brought a whole new meaning to the phrase of ‘Boom and Bust’
So I’m slow to see these bureaucrats as people we can trust.

But to be honest with you Boris, the older that I get
The more I realise that I can only trust my pet
And yeah, she took a while to settle, as a Setter cross Retriever
But when I look into her eyes at least I know I can believe her
Which is more that can be said about politicos today
In Dublin or in Brussels, or there in the UK.

‘Cause it feels like being caught between yourselves and the E.U.
Is a bit like being taught to play Beethoven on Kazoo
Where the music written down might look and act the same
But no matter how it’s played out it’s going to sound insane.

So fuck your jingoistic bullshit, and your normalising wrongs
And stick the backstop up your arse where your old empire belongs
And fuck your open racism, and fuck your prorogation
And fuck your Eton college and your Oxford education
And fuck taking away the whip from MPs who disagree
I commend them for their courage and display of bravery
To see you for the despot that you well and truly are
Fuck how you think, and what you say, and everything you are
‘Cause I never thought I’d say this, or live to see the day
But the more I see your face the more I miss poor Theresa May.

And sorry for the outburst, it’s just the aul’ Tourettes
It’s a curse of an affliction, but y’know how hard it gets
But sure look, I’ll let you go, and for now I’ll leave you be
And Remain your closest ally, and your friendly neighbour, me.

Stephen Murphy

Previously: Stephen Murphy on Broadsheet

Last night.

On BBC One’s Question Time.

American-British playwright, novelist, critic and broadcaster Bonnie Greer, who’s from Chicago but has lived in the UK since 1986, said:

“Often times,  hear people talking about Ireland, as if this country [UK] owns Ireland. Ireland owes this country nothing.

“Ireland owes this country no concession, it owes it no quarter, it owes it nothing.

“The third thing that I would add, too, is that the Good Friday Agreement, in spite of its rather benign name – the Good Friday Agreement is a truce.

“And it’s a truce because the United States of America and the EU sat down with the country to make it happen. We have to be much more serious about this.

“And the third thing I want say is that the United States is Irish and anybody who thinks that they’re going to get a deal through and have a relationship, a trade relationship with the United States, that shafts Ireland, you got another thing coming.

“It’s not gonna happen.

“I’m from Chicago, that’s where I was born and you know what we do on St Patrick’s Day? We dye the river green. People are very serious about Ireland in the United States. Don’t mess with it.”

BBC Question Time

Thanks Spaghetti Hoop

Meanwhile…

Hardcore.

Thanks Nat King Coleslaw

Meanwhile…

Who you calling savages?

Today’s London Evening Standard.

Thanks Ken

Earlier today.

In the Dáil.

Tánaiste Simon Coveney (top) responds to the UK’s latest Brexit proposal.

UK, not EU, needs to do further work on Brexit offer: Brussels (RTE)

UPDATE:

Meanwhile…