Border checks for goods plan a Dublin ‘kite-flying exercise’

An ex-Irish diplomat who helped negotiate the Belfast Agreement in 1998 has described reports in Dublin that the Republic’s government might have to consider their own border checks on goods if UK-EU relations break down as a “kite-flying exercise.”
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Ray Bassett, the former Irish ambassador and joint secretary to the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, said they are designed to test southern public opinion in case the coalition government is forced to adopt emergency measures such as customs checks on their side of the border.

In the event of the end of the protocol, Mr Bassett said: “If the EU decide that Northern Ireland is a third country territory, Brussels will demand controls on goods coming from NI into the single market. That is a nightmare scenario for Dublin as they have said so many times that the border on the island of Ireland must remain frictionless. The UK will not erect controls so Dublin will be faced with solving the problem.

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“The government faced with that choice would opt for land controls but is very unsure how the public would react, hence the kite flying.”

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Mr Bassett who has been a sharp critic of the EU in recent years added: “The new sea border could be in the Celtic Sea.”

Meanwhile, several large-scale smuggling incidents show that EU concerns over the operation of the protocol are not theoretical, Brussels said yesterday.

Seizure of counterfeit high-value electrical products last year, fitted with the European Union-type plugs, show the need for robust checks at Northern Ireland ports, an EU official said.

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The official said there was evidence criminals were trying to use the Irish Sea crossing to get prohibited products into the EU single market.

Drugs and weapons have also been seized, the official said.

“There is smuggling going on, for sure,” they added.