The Social Democrats today called on the government to stand firm on the need for a legally binding agreement to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is about protecting the peace process, honouring the Good Friday Agreement and safeguarding the lives and livelihoods of people on both sides of the border. Anything that threatens these cannot be countenanced.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The Social Democrats today called on the government to stand firm on the need for a legally binding agreement to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.<\/p>\n
Speaking following last night\u2019s Westminster vote for the \u2018backstop\u2019 to be removed and replaced with \u2018alternative arrangements\u2019 to avoid a hard border, the party\u2019s co-leader R\u00f3is\u00edn Shortall TD said:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is clear that the British Government has decided the Irish peace process is necessary collateral damage to achieving their Brexit. It is important to remember the DUP actively campaigned\u00a0to reject the Good Friday Agreement in the referendum in 1998, and they would\u00a0welcome the full collapse of that Agreement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Irish government must be steadfast in its resolve that nothing can dilute the legal certainty of the \u2018backstop\u2019 agreement. This was agreed by the UK government and the EU after 18 months of discussion \u2013 and it is a vital insurance policy to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny and all efforts to undermine the legal certainty of the backstop agreement must be firmly rebuffed by the Taoiseach and the Minister for Foreign Affairs. While we hope the backstop will never need to be used, it is crucial to ensuring an open border on the island.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is about protecting the peace process, honouring the Good Friday Agreement and safeguarding the lives and livelihoods of people on both sides of the border. Anything that threatens these cannot be countenanced.\u201d<\/p>\n
ENDS<\/p>\n
30th January 2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Social Democrats today called on the government to stand firm on the need for a legally binding agreement to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland. \u201cThis is about protecting the peace process, honouring the Good Friday Agreement and safeguarding the lives and livelihoods of people on both sides of the border. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7,264],"tags":[392,192],"class_list":["post-714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-press-release","category-roisin-shortall","tag-backstop","tag-brexit"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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