If the GFA means no Irish border, then it DEFINITELY means no UK one

By RG McDowell
Published 11th Sep 2020, 07:00 BST
The British Isles (as pictured on Google Earth); much has been made of where any post-Brexit border will be drawnThe British Isles (as pictured on Google Earth); much has been made of where any post-Brexit border will be drawn
The British Isles (as pictured on Google Earth); much has been made of where any post-Brexit border will be drawn
There has been considerable adverse reaction from the Dublin Government and Irish Nationalism generally to the Prime Minster’s suggestion that he might not implement fully the NI protocol.

The Nationalist narrative continually refers to the Dublin Government as a co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement and says that a hard border in Ireland is a breach of the Good Friday Agreement. You cannot be co-guarantor of half an agreement.

It stands to reason that if a border in Ireland is a breach of the Good Friday Agreement in the place where such a border actually exists then a border in the Irish sea must be at least as big a breach of the Good Friday Agreement if not more so.

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You cannot claim to be a co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement by only protecting the Republican aspects to such an agreement.

Letter to the editorLetter to the editor
Letter to the editor

If you want to make the argument that Brexit cannot avoid having at least one border and you believe that Unionism’s protections within the Good Friday Agreement should be forfeit as a sort of punishment or consequence for having supported Brexit then by all means make that case.

But be honest enough to acknowledge it as a breach of the Good Friday Agreement, rather than the condescending argument that preventing a border on the island of Ireland is essential to peace and the preservation of the agreement – but preventing a border in the Irish sea wouldn’t be.

While it may simply be a negotiating tactic on the part of the British government, I think it was great to hear the Prime Minister publicly concede in a manner that is forever quotable in future debates that a border in the Irish sea would be prejudicial to the Good Friday Agreement.

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Political Unionism should embrace this narrative, and make it clear to the various European and American interest groups that claim their support for the Good Friday Agreement, that if the agreement allows for no tangible border in Ireland it certainly makes no provision to create a new border within the United Kingdom.

Mr RG McDowell, Belfast BT5

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Related topics:GovernmentNorthern IrelandAmericanPrime Minister