Brexit: British/Irish Relations (House of Lords Report)

There can be no question of people in Northern Ireland not retaining the right to Irish citizenship after Brexit so the House of Lords is wrong to even raise the issue. They obviously don’t realize that anyone born anywhere in the world with at least one Irish grandparent is entitled to Irish citizenship. That said, the House of Lords is telling the Department of Foreign Affairs that the Irish Government should not be running around Europe pleading for the right of people in Donegal to travel to Derry without a visa after Brexit. Apart from making fools of themselves, there is a risk of the Europeans (the other 26 Member States) stirring up trouble for both Britain and the Republic in terms of cross-border and east-west relations, trouble that the other 26 would not normally contemplate causing. They might, however, cause trouble in order to put pressure on the British Government in the Brexit talks or indeed on the Irish Government to leave the EU with the British.

It is possible that officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs are doing their best to stop Kenny and Flanagan running around Europe making fools of themselves. I don’t know but the House of Lords report will be seen by the Department (if not by their political masters) and by other foreign ministries, inside and outside the EU, as a telling off for the way Kenny and Flanagan are behaving. I have no doubt that the British Foreign Office will have urged the HoL to publish the report, and quickly (the first of five or six this week from the HoL), before Kenny and Flanagan do more damage. The weakness of both men is being shown up starkly. In the nature of these things, PM May can’t tell Kenny to stop making a fool of himself. It would also be difficult for the Foreign Office to say that to the Ambassador, even informally, but the message is coming through loud and clear in the report.

The House of Lords report will be seen by the other 26 Member States as a typical divide and conquer move by the British. There is truth in that but from our point of view divide and conquer is the right approach on this occasion.

The House of Lords report talks about any bilateral deal being approved by the EU after it has been agreed by Britain and Ireland. That is diplomatic-speak for telling the EU to take it or leave it. 

A very important report.