Comments by "Taint ABird" (@taintabird23) on "euronews" channel.

  1. The Irish care, Brussels cares, the other EU 27 care and Washington cares. Who cares about the UKs position? Its poor and doesn't know its small.
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  2. The taoiseach was born in Ireland, how can be be foreign?
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  3. Brexit Britain chose to walk away, thinking that it could have all the benefits of membership and non-membership at the same time.
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  4. Huh? His mother is Irish. You don't have any idea what you are talking about, do you....
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  5. At least Ireland has a leader.
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  6.  @Andrew-is7rs  You do nothing to dispel the myth that Brexiters are fuckwits. Taxation is a competence of individual members states. The EU has no jurisdiction over it, but it is common mistake made by Brexiters given they are generally so badly informed. You blamed the EU for a Tampon Tax your government placed on feminine hygiene products. How much longer is the UK going to continue to blame the EU for the incompetence of its own government? You're only fooling yourselves. Ireland volunteered to increase its payments into the EU in 2018 Andrew, in order to show leadership and increase it capital across the bloc. But go ahead, believe what you need to believe. It is important that you see that Brexit is the right thing for you, because otherwise...well...maybe Brexit is stupid. Enjoy the booze cruises, I know we will.
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  7. @ Gavin Another fuckwit who has no idea about Ireland's Lisbon referenda...like Farage.
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  8. I know. Pathetic really.
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  9. The EU is Ireland's biggest export market (40%); the USA is second (30%); the UK is third at 10%. Ireland exports less to the UK than the UK exports to Ireland. Indeed Ireland takes more British exports than China. Typical Brexit, thick as two short planks.
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  10. lol!
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  11. What on earth are you talking about? It was May who came up with the Irish backstop solution which was agreed with the EU as it satisfied Irish concerns - it solved the problem from the Irish and the EU side. It is the UK that is breaking the deal as it has no confidence it can negotiate trade deal with the EU that will render the backstop unnecessary. The House of Commons rejection of the deal indicates the necessity of the Backstop from an EU perspective.
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  12. He bottled it.
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  13. If Ireland was smart, eh? I'd say you could write what you know about Ireland on the back of a postage stamp.
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  14. 'If a backstop is intended as a temporary measure, then there's no reason for it to be to infinity and beyond.' Its not. The backstop is for the Withdrawal Agreement and will be replaced when new a trade deal - which apparently the EU needs more than the UK - is negotiated. The fact that the UK flip-flops over what it wants and Brexit is championed by low-grade politicians that lie freely to their own people, this makes the backstop all the more necessary. Perhaps if you understood the impact of Brexit on border communities in Ireland, and the sense of betrayal Irish nationalists in NI feel, you would understand that this is the actual motive. Your lack of knowledge of the real issue has caused you to look elsewhere for reasons behind it. The consequences of Brexit will be entirely the fault of the liars you believed - it will be nobody else's, though I understand that leavers need others to take the blame. It kind of comes with the whole Brexit package. I understand that it is no longer part of the narrative now, but Brexiters before the referendum claimed that leaving the EU did not mean leaving the CU and SM. Remember? The backstop is necessary until a new arrangement is agreed between the EU and the UK, and the UK is responsible for the mess.
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  15. The Irish have been net contributors to the EU since 2013, its just that you only heard about it a few months ago. What is more, Ireland volunteered to increase its payments in order to show leadership in the EU, back in 2018. This provides Ireland with access to the Single Market, freedom of labour of Irish industry, an ability to shape the development of the EU, and amplifies Irish diplomatic clout as you discovered during the Brexit negotiations. Brexit now means the end of any further psychological deference to the UK. If you think Ireland was hard to figure out since 2016, it will get harder for you going forward. Enjoy!
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  16. The closer Ireland is to the UK, the poorer Irish people are. Sorry, no thanks.
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  17.  @trobuk99  There is a huge number British people living and working in Ireland and have no intention of returning either. In fact the British make up about 25% of all immigrants to Ireland.
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  18. Well, Ireland is a net contributor and is France and the Netherlands. All three countries are eligible for funds to deal with the problem caused by Brexit.
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  19. Yes, customs and excise duties. You need to buy from the German or French Amazon to avoid it.
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  20.  Leroy Jenkins 2.0  The border is in Ireland, dumbass. The open border came about due to a democratic decision of the Irish people North and South in 1998 and the Belfast Agreement makes Ireland a co-guarantor of that agreement. Once PM May allied herself with the DUP, a party that did not represent the desires of the people of NI in relation to Brexit, the Irish government were required to speak up for the people of Northern Ireland. They have that right because of the Belfast Agreement. Ireland used its diplomatic clout in Brussels and Washington, as sovereign nations tend to do, better than Brexiters did. Your government has behaved like a pantomime dame by comparison. The UK is not the only sovereign state involved in the Brexit farce, and Ireland has no intention of mimicking the crazy contortions of its former imperial master by being 'with' you. You lot are on your own.
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  21.  Leroy Jenkins 2.0  Really? Where is my delusion? You do know the British Demos is in terminal decline, right? Of course NI is part of the UK, nobody is disputing that - but it is contest territory, with half of the population tolerating its constitutional position within the UK for now. The majority of Scots appear to identify as Scottish rather than British. We know that because of the rise of the SNP and the prevalence of Scottish identity even among many Scottish Labour voters. The 2011 census tells us that there are vast areas of England that identify as English rather than British, and polls since then have shown that English identity is on the increase in England. There is a direct co-relation between the areas that voted for Brexit in 2016 and those areas that identified as English in 2011. Wales voted to leave. But again that 2011 census tells us that 12% of the population of Wales identifies as English, not Welsh. With most of these English voters in Wales being retirees and fitting the most pro-Brexit demographic, it is fair to say these people brought their politics with them. When you consider that of 17 + million people who voted to leave the EU, 15.1 million of them were English, and add that to the diminishing overarching Britishness across the union, and then the delusion is that the UK voted to leave 'as one country'. If fact, English insecurities dragged the rest of them out. The constitutional arrangement is clearly unfit for purpose, and there is a yawning democratic deficit that has no parallel in western democracy that I can think of. The delusion is on your side, I'm afraid. Leaving the EU is England's wrong answer to the wrong question.
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  22. @ Walloper And all of this could have been avoided if the UK had bothered to plan for Brexit rather than trying to leave it as a problem for the rest of the EU to solve. The UK position ignores the fact there is no majority in NI for a departure from the EU, and that even most unionists support and understand the notion of the backstop and remaining in the CU and SM. The UK deals with the border issue and the GFA by simply dismissing Irish anxieties, despite the abysmal record of Westminster in Irish affairs over the centuries. There will be a hard border and this will destabilise NI. In the next 3-5 years the UK will be back to the EU seeking a deal when the reality of trading only on WTO rules is apparent. You will be in a much weaker position at that stage and the 2021 census may well indicate that Nationalist will be a majority in NI, leading to a border poll. It will be clear then the extent to which you will over played your hand.
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  23. Oh please. Placing a time limit on the backstop is about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike. It will no longer deserve the name 'backstop', because it will not be a backstop. There will be no deal now as the EU values the CU and SM more than it values any deal with the UK - what part of that do you not understand? - and Ireland will not throw NI nationalists under bus for selfish economic reasons. Had the UK stuck with the WA, Ireland would have become its champion in the EU, seeking the widest, most comprehensive trade deal. Instead PM May is trotting off to Brussels again to renegotiate a deal she has already been told is non-negotiable. For remainer, you sure do a good impression of a Brexiter.
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  24. No. You the prisoners of your own incompetence. Who in their right minds would leave the EU without a plan? Even somebody opening a corner shop would be expected to have a business plan, ffs.
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  25. The UK is a rogue state. An agreement with the UK is not worth the paper it is written on.
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  26.  @sotlad  Since 2013, Ireland has been a net contributor. Ireland is happy to provide a helping hand to those countries coming behind us.
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  27. The majority of the people in the Republic support EU membership for their country and the majority of people in Northern Ireland voted to remain, with an even higher number now wishing at least to remain in the CU and SM. That's your problem in a nutshell.
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  28.  Jo Sm  There are six ferries at Rosslare tonight, ready to start shipping from Rosslare to Dunkirk, while the Cherbourg route has had its capacity doubled. This is because of delays at Dover due to the increase in red tape. making the landbridge is less economically viable. This may change in the future, but we shall see.
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  29.  Leroy Jenkins 2.0  Treacherous? In that comment you dismiss Irish sovereignty as meaning nothing. Irish unity is a matter for the Irish people and nothing to do with the British.
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  30. There is no pain for Ireland. The direct route saves time on the UK landbridge post-Brexit, it creates jobs at Rosslare Harbour and it protects Ireland's strategic interests.
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  31.  @malahammer  Leave them. They're trying to make a silk purse out of a pigs ear. It is an unwelcome reminder of their diminishing importance to their neighbours and they can't handle it.
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  32. ToonBBfan - He meets perfectly the definition of a proper Paddy as defined by us Irish ourselves. The Irish are secure in their identity and culture, don't judge the Irish by your primitive British criteria.
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  33. The problem is for you, you can't feed yourselves. Ireland already sells most of its produce to the EU, the UK has been declining as a market while its value has increased over the last 48 years.
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  34.  @tonyking2680  All that wishful thinking Tom! You've burned your house down and the only satisfaction you can find in it is the possibility that you might burn somebody else's house down too! Ireland and France are allies in the EU in relation to agriculture. Ireland does not compete with the French, we produce different agricultural products. Only 10% of Irish products goes to the UK. Of these about 38% are agricultural products. Of the agricultural products about 50% of Irish beef goes to the UK and 80% of Irish cheddar. Ireland is already diversifying its markets away from the UK because of Brexit and producing new products more appropriate to European tastes. This makes sense, because there is no paperwork for Irish products in the EU, and the gravity for trade has been increasingly towards the Eurozone in any case. So perhaps the the 15 ships a a weeks will have to be increased...
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  35. There is no communism Mike, just democracy and a rejection of English nationalist values.
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  36. In 1169 the King of Leinster sought help against his enemies from the Anglo-Norman Earl of Pembroke, promising him his kingdom and his daughters hand in marriage in return. Henry II, worried that one of his vassals might be setting up a rival kingdom, arrived in Ireland a couple of years later and claimed the whole island for himself. And thus began the sorry shared history of Britain and Ireland. No Englishman showed up in Ireland to protect anybody from the Normans. You are factually incorrect.
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  37.  @leafbone1  Another unintended consequence of Brexit...shortage of vets.
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  38. Haven't you heard? The MERCOSUR deal is parked indefinitely because the Brazilians are burning down their rainforest. Furthermore, the beef deal with the EU is not quota and tariff free. Finally, it offers Irish trade and service opportunities to Irish businesses in South America for the very first time, so it had its upsides.
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  39. Well, we know that it is important to Brexiters to be seen to shrug their shoulders every time they discover they are not as important as they thought they were. Ireland can afford to.
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  40.  @theq-1  Actually, Ireland has been a net contributor since 2013, so there is another thing you have wrong.
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  41. The 80% of Irish produce transiting he UK is mostly going to the EU. All exports to the UK will continue to decline over time as the UK is outside of the eurozone and has additional paperwork, adding to the cost of transport. Ireland is much better than the UK at diversifying its markets, so over time Ireland should be fine. It is a silver lining for both countries.
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  42. @ Veronica The fundamentals of international trade dictate that there must be customs checks at the border of two customs unions. Despite the current narrative, Brexiteers campaigned on the promise that they would not leave the customs union. They lied. If the Irish government puts up a border the Irish people on both sides of that border will take it down. If the Irish government does not put up a border, the rest of the EU will put customs checks on Irish goods. Remember - the Irish people never voted for any of this. This is the UKs 'Brexit present' to Ireland. In 1998 the Irish people voted for an open border in a binding referendum, now so casually cast aside by Brexiters on another island. There will be trouble, the question is with whom and how bad will it be.
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  43. You need to stop trusting yourselves, that's where all the problems sprang from.
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  44. Irish hauliers have been paying UK road tax since 2014.
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  45. If you think the EU is bad, wait until you to to WTO.
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  46. But the UK is trying to strike a withdrawal deal with the EU. As Lithuania is in the EU, you literally made leaving the EU the business of every Lithuanian - indeed, every citizen in the EU. Go back to sleep Dave, we will wake you up when you are an official vassal of the European Union.
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  47. No, the used the UK landbridge because it was quicker. With modern ferries, winter gales are less of a problem than they used to be.
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  48. Who cares what the Catholic Church thinks? An Irish Taoiseach is democratically elected, and this one was elected in the first country in the world to change the law on gay marriage in a referendum by people of all religions and none - indeed many of the Yes voters were practicing Catholics. More primitive thinking from you, I'm afraid...
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  49. Nigel Johnson 'Only very recently Varadkar rejected any notion of reunification with NI.' No he didn't. He said now is not the time for the discussion as Brexit is the issue at hand, and that any united Ireland will be a new agreed state... At no point has any Irish government nor has the EU said anything about the political and financial liability.
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  50. @ Marty Smith Under the Belfast Agreement of 1998, which the people of Ireland voted for in overwhelming numbers, Ireland can only be united with the consent of the people of Northern Ireland. It may happen that post-Brexit, the people of NI will indeed vote to unite the island politically. London cannot dump NI. In a united Ireland, the people of the Ireland will be entitled to multiple identities. They will be allowed to identify as Irish, British, Irish and British...all will be able to identify as European. Our constitution reflects that. While the Republic of Ireland is a secular, socially liberal state, many in NI are religious and socially conservative. It was hoped that the people of NI would gradually come around to the idea of unity over a number of decades. Brexit is forcing their hand for economic and other reasons to consider their future in a united Ireland before reconciliation has taken place. Nobody wants that.
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  51. Thank you for your support.
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  52. I'm in a same sex marriage. My wife and I have been having the same sex for years.  I don't know what all the fuss is about.
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  53. I must say I am very impressed at the sudden interest in Ireland, considering if never got a mention before the referendum. I take it as a measure of your resentment at having your Brexit dreams crushed by a country that you have no respect for. The fact that you think the EU bailed out Italy is a measure how you wield your ignorance. Ireland had a huge recession in 2009-2011. The impact of Brexit will in no way match that bang, and we know we can survive that. We will just have to adapt our economy again as we have done many times before. Can the UK do the same given your lazy unproductive workforce?
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  54.  Stephen Valentine  Of course it does!
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  55. It is trade in the opposite direction that they are referring to.
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  56. Are you quite mad?
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  57.  Stephen Valentine  Why would Ireland 'return to the UK' soon? It would require Ireland to drop its standard of living to meet yours and give up its sovereignty to join a union that may not exist in a decade. Bizarre statement.
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  58. No tampon tax in Ireland.
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  59. They're not that bright. Brexit could send them back to the Stone Age and they could consider it a 'win'.
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  60. This suggests that Irish interests and UK interests are the same. They are not. Ireland is a country where there is 92% support for EU membership and 94% voted in favour of the Belfast Agreement. These numbers inform the Irish government as to what the nationals interest is. Irish strategic interest lies with EU membership and not with a UK that is dominated by delusional Brexiters who lie to themselves.
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  61. How is it a dictatorship when all countries in the bloc have a vote on any deal the UK has with the EU? The EU will be fine in 5 years, but the UK is only 50/50.
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  62. @Is it cos I white? Yes, we pooled some of our sovereign independence to enhance the prosperity of Irish people. We found that hoarding it in an Ivory Tower for decades - as the UK is planning to do - is pointless if you cannot improve the lives of your people. Still, we never had more foodbanks than McDonalds restaurants or UNICEF feeding our kids.
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  63.  Leroy Jenkins 2.0  Ireland has always respected British sovereignty.
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  64.  Leroy Jenkins 2.0  On the 2019 United Nations Human Development Index, Albania is list as 69th in the World, the UK is 15th and Ireland is 3rd. The UK is closer to Albania than Ireland.
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  65. The UK went to war in 1939, along with the French, following the failure of appeasement to halt the geopolitical aspirations of Germany. It turned out that the UK faced losing its sovereignty as a result of it from surrender of France until the invasion of the Soviet Union, but it was not for its sovereignty that it went to war. It was for geopolitical reasons.
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  66.  @millhilljimjimmy6731  Get on with what?
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  67. Excellent post.
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  68. 'One factor that you didn't mention was the EU federalism and the progression to a federal United States of Europe. There is no doubt that will happen.' On the contrary, there is serious doubt that it will happen. This desire for a federal Europe was realistic with the original six members, but today both the Italians and Dutch in particular are strongly against the idea. The fact is, expansion to 27 countries means that it will be practically impossible to get all members to agree to it. We are starting to reach the limits of EU integration. It is quite possible that there will be a united Ireland in the medium term. The English will may well be the ones who force the issue as every single survey of both Leave voters and Tory party members over the last three years has shown that they are not unionists. They want Brexit, and if the price of Brexit is the end of the union, so be it. Therefore the real question is not whether there will be a united Ireland in the medium term, but will there be a United Kingdom. I would argue that Brexit will break up the 'precious union' as there is a diminishing British demos and no constitutional account for the fact that Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain. Against that back drop, and the fact that Brexit is predicted by every rational commentator as being an act of national self harm, Brexit is likely to turbo charge Scottish nationalism. Once they leave, Northern Ireland will follow - what will a unionist be if there is no union? It will not be plane sailing. Any united Ireland will have to be agreed with unionists in NI. The nature of that united Ireland - whether it will be a unitary state or a federal one - will have to be decided by the people of the whole of he Ireland.
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  69.  Stephen Valentine  What are we missing? What are we 'too stupid' not to see?
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  70.  @Skinhead-201  You're big boys now? You have 50,000 dead because the Tories thought English exceptionalism and character would see the UK through the pandemic. It does not bode well for the 'new dawn'.
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  71. Nope and nope.
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  72. That's what Nigel Farage thinks, he keeps telling us that every time he appears on Irish TV. The fact is, the EU is Ireland's biggest export market not the UK; Ireland is the source of the UKs second largest trade surplus. You export more to Ireland than you do to China. As the Irish gradually switch to easier sources of supply in the EU, the UK will be the bigger losers, not Ireland.
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  73.  @nigeljohnson9820  These are EU laws regarding standards and regulations. Abandoning certain laws and regulations will mean you cannot sell your products in the EU. Then you will be limited to your own market. Very sad. This is the reason why UK government cannot and will not run away from the standards and regulations, especially as many of them were British in origin anyway. The UK needs to be able to sell into the EU.
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  74.  @anthonyreright2519  'lol How old the EU that's doomed now and comparing it to the UK that's been together for hundreds of years lol ' What are you trying to say? Your English is awful. Fancy another stab at it?
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  75.  John Bull  Oh look at that - John Bull is trying his hand at economics! Ireland has emphatically NOT been 'fiddling its economic figures for years' - where is the evidence for rubbish statement? Countries don't pay back their national debts, shithead, they grow their economies in relation to it. How is Ireland 'barely making the interest payments', when the interest rates are negative and the financial markets are actually paying countries to roll over their debt? Ireland has a higher standard of living than you do in the UK, a country with more foodbanks than McDonalds restaurants and 13 places behind Ireland in the United Nations Human Development Index. 'Imaginary wealth', indeed.
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  76. I do. Unless you want to discuss your ridiculous post?
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  77. Ladies and Gentlemen, lets check the score and review the Brexit half time highlights, shall we? Sequencing the negotiations will be the 'row of the summer'. EU 1 UK 0 'A free trade deal with the EU will be the easiest in human history' EU 2 UK 0 The EU can divorce bill: the EU can 'whistle for it' EU 3 UK 0 ' We are leaving the Customs Union' EU 4 UK 0 ' The Irish border is a non-story' EU 5 UK 0 The German Automotive industry will take the UKs side EU 6 UK 0 The EU needs the UK more than the UK needs the EU. EU 7 UK 0 7-0 down at the end of the first half. Don't go away folks, that was the easy bit.
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  78. Brexiters will always be angry, it is part of their condition.
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  79. It is fundamentalists because the UK fishing industry is a tiny part of the UK economy, and its value to Brexiters is symbolic not economic.
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  80.  @eddiel7635  Well, the UK needs a trade deal, and it is in the weaker negotiating position. If there is not a deal by 31st December, it will only be no deal for now. The UK will be back and it will give the EU what it needs in order to get the access it wants to the EUs single market. There really isn't a debate to be had about this either.
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  81.  @eddiel7635  The UK needs a trade deal, an anchor deal, with the EU or US. The fact that you have not signed one yet is because your preference is for an EU deal, and the potential deal with the US was to be used as leverage or a backstop. The risk of no deal with the EU has diminished significantly since Biden won the US Presidential election. It is difficult to see how Ireland has been 'chucked under a bus' by the EU, though Brexiters are prone to this hallucination without ever being able articulate it. How could it be possible? After all, you also admit that the UK has not signed any deal. Furthermore, Ireland has outplayed the UK diplomatically in both Brussels and Washington, and if the UK does not sign a deal with the EU, it will only be a temporary. Food shortages and other chaos will see to that. Your claim that I have given up on my argument that the UKs fisheries policy is fundamentalist is your error. My argument still stands. The UK will cave in on fish in order to get increases access for its car assembly factories etc. That's where the jobs and the votes are.
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  82. Well, a poll of the 100,000 or so Tory members who elected Johnson shows overwhelming support for the sacrifice of NI for Brexit if it came to it...
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  83.  Stephen Valentine  How is Ireland extremely important to the SURVIVAL of Ireland?
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  84.  Leroy Jenkins 2.0  I have no idea what this statement is supposed to mean. When did not Ireland NOT respect British sovereignty?
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  85.  Leroy Jenkins 2.0  'Micro-identities', eh? What an unfortunate term. The fact is, being English or Scottish is becoming the dominant identity in both England and Scotland and the evidence is there to back it up. You need to get with the trend, or be left behind. 'Micro-identities' Try 'multi-layered' identity instead, it is a more appropriate term. The multi-layered British identity is also the identity that the people of the UK are gradually abandoning. Force for good in the world? Depends on who you ask.
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  86. Bollox. The UK fought WW2 to stop Germany geopolitical ambitions, and almost lost the war in 1940. Stupid comments like yours are a result of the downgrading of history in the UK school curriculum. It results in a nation of fuckwits.
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  87. Less than taking the landbridge post-Brexit.
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  88.  @brutallyhonest9140 I expect that trade between the two islands will decline over time. It is inevitable because our two economies are continuing to diverge. The spite is on your side, and it is not healthy in the long term.
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  89.  @brutallyhonest9140  Well, the UK looks fairly isolated now.
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  90.  @brutallyhonest9140  Yes, that's a perfect example of your isolation. Glad you are enjoying it. It's what you voted for!
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  91. Do tell!
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  92.  @Mo-hc9lc  No they didn't.
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  93.  @oldseadog3386  They can go on the landbridge on those days. Or they can wait until the storm passes. Problem solved.
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  94. ToonandBBfan - Ireland trades with primitives all the time, indeed the British Empire was built on the notion of trading with primitives. I fail see why Ireland should not be trading with the UK because 52% of them are primitive thinkers.
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  95. Because before the British put up obstacles to trade, transiting the UK was a viable option. Now because of delays at Dover, the sea route saves time. 40% of Irish trade is with the EU, while only 10% is with the UK - why would Ireland leave the EU? The only spoiled brats are the Brexiters.
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  96. Ireland is happy in the EU, Brexit is British policy. Why don't the UK reverse Brexit on the grounds that it is stupid, we'll forget everything, problem solved?
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  97. Ah Trevor. We're still exporting to the UK, this to a avoid the bottle neck at Dover.
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  98.  @obadiahspong2300  And that is set to change because the British are changing the Status Quo. Ireland will be fine and will move away from the UK market over time. Which part of we by more from the UK than we sell to the UK do you not understand?
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  99.  @MrAthlon4800  The road upgrade was already planned, and has now been brought forward. While it is necessary for you to believe this is a Brexit 'win', it really is not. The additional paperwork at Dover and elsewhere makes this new initiative viable and the threat to Ireland of the Irish hauliers being used as bargaining chips with the EU in the future is a strategic weakness for Ireland that is now resolved. These developments are a boon to Rosslare Europort, leading to new employment opportunities and is a shot in the arm for the local economy. Hauliers happy with the more direct port to port routes to Dunkirk, Cherbourg and Bilbao, leading to more rest time for drivers and less wear and tear on vehicles. It is further evidence that the UK is just a little bit less important to its neighbours than Brexiters told themselves, so you will need to point to environmental gains for the UK from the reduced number of Irish trucks on your roads instead.
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  100.  @jacquilayton2557  Oh! Another Brexiter playing Nostradamus!
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  101. Are you being paid by Putin? Steve Bannon?
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  102. No need to brag.
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  103.  @Iazzaboyce  Brexit has nothing to do with Ireland leaving the UK a century ago! What planet are you living on?
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  104.  @anthonyreright2519  Kettle calling the Pot... Have you seen your own country? Does not stop you using your newspapers, does it? The New York Times is hardly a fanize for administration behind the debacle in the United States. Thick Brexiter.
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  105.  @martinmanifold2241  'the UK is ROIs biggest trade partner .fact' Only because the UK runs a trade surplus with Ireland. Ireland's bigger export markets are the EU (40%) and the US (30%). The UK takes only 10% of Irish exports. The UK sells Ireland more stuff than it sells to China.
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  106.  John Bull  Are you seriously lecturing me on the nature of Irish sovereign debt? You are the personification of the Dunning Kruger effect.
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  107.  John Bull  Ireland's sovereign debt as a ratio of GDP is about the same as the UKs, having been up to 20% lower than it up until the pandemic. That was because we Irish have very strong domestic and export economies, and we shrank the debt in relation to the economy. Unlike you, I understand Irelands place in the world and also that of the UK. Your country is not exceptional, and is not as important to Ireland as it used to be. Ireland has higher standard of living than the UK, a country with the worst covid death rate in Europe, more foodbanks than McDonalds restaurants and with UNICEF feeding children. Ireland wiped the floor with the UK diplomatically during the Brexit farce. I know which country I would prefer to live in, and deep down your envy eats away at you. I know Irelands place in the world, and now so do you.
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  108. 'Leo, trade talks with the 400m strong eu will be down the queue after talks with the biggest economies in the world and the 2000m strong commonwealth countries' This is untrue for a number of reasons: 1) The Commonwealth made it clear to the UK in April 2018 that they are not interested in being the UKs Brexit crutch. It is not a trade organisation. 2) The UK is a high end producer. Most of the countries in the Commonwealth are Pacific or Caribbean islands or are in Africa countries and are dirt poor. There's also a lot of black people in these countries that will be looking for visas, Brexit is all about racism. The Commonwealth is not answer to your problems. 3) India, Australia and New Zealand have both said that they are prioritising EU trade deals over deals with the UK - the UK is at the back of the queue. Two countries are already in the EU and are bound by EU law. 4) All of these countries are far away and in international trade distance applies - you trade more with those closer to you because its worth more to you. The value of the UK’s trading relationship with Ireland is higher than the value of UK trade with Italy or Spain, even though the total size of Ireland’s economy is much smaller than Italy’s or Spain’s. You're swapping a four course meal for a packet of crisps. 5) The US is not the answer either as any trade deal with the Americans will be for the benefit of the Americans, not the British. The Americans already pick your Ambassador to Washington and your foreign policy is dictated to a large extent by the US State Department. Your country is vulnerable. It is desperate for a trade deal with a United States ruled by President that wants to Make America Great Again. And you have no trade negotiators. 6) Meanwhile, the Single Market is augmented by preferential trade deals across the world, with countries such as Canada, Japan, MERCOSUR and anothers are pending. The UK has nothing but the safety net of the WTO. 7) The Single Market is worth more the EU than the UK. Failure to understand this has been the single biggest strategic error of Brexit. Varadkar will be kicked out of office in the future because of his domestic policies and not because of Brexit. When he leaves he will be replaced, but the Ireland's Brexit policy will remain the same. There is consensus that Ireland must stand up for the Belfast Agreement and protect its sovereign national interest. Enjoy your poverty, and remember you voted for it.
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  109. Jesus Christ Tom, stay away from history - you're clueless!
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  110. Did you even watch the video?
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  111. Which is exactly how the EU feels about the UK. You belittled the small nations of the EU by believing that all that was required for the UK was to strike a deal with Germany because of the laughable myth that 'Germany controls the EU'. Now you expect a deal with these small nations. Pathetic.
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  112.  @Andrew-is7rs  Sorry lad, ignorance triumphed over commonsense.
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  113.  @eddiel7635  How would Ireland be economically ruined? It will still be in the EU. Certain sectors in Ireland would certainly be damaged, but there is no indication that it would be ruined when it has unfettered access to the SM. Any damage Ireland experiences because of Brexit will be the UKs fault, not the EUs - the UK is the one changing the status quo. The entire UK economy will not collapse, its internal market is strong and will continue. The overall economy will not function properly though, there will be a flight of capital out of the country, there will be unemployment at a time when personal debt is at its highest in years, increased unemployment, negative price shocks, and political and social unrest. There is zero panic in London because everybody knows that the UK is cannot go for No Deal with the EU because Biden has closed the door on a US-UK trade deal under those circumstances. 46% of your exports are to the EU. There will be a deal, sooner or later. Everybody knows this. Ever since 2016, Brexiters have been making it up as the go along, pretending they never wanted a deal when in fact they were led to believe they could have any deal they liked because they were so important. When it became apparent that this was not the case, in order to avert humiliation they simply changed the narrative. Peter Lilly described no deal as 'madness'; Farage said he fancied a Norway-style deal (don't remind him of that now).
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  114. The Double Irish is already phased out.
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  115. There are more Protestants in Catholic Ireland than adherents to Islam.
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  116.  @dodgynumber7533  Brexit is based on the notion that the EU should never have been trusted. How can you regain what you never had?
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  117. Nope. We'll blame people like you.
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  118. He's the guy telling you what you need to do to make him happy.
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  119. What does this statement you are making mean?
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  120.  @evokev4161  His English seems fine to me.
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  121.  Stephen Valentine  And the UK sold out its fish, right? But for the UK, there is more paperwork to trade with the EU.
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  122.  Stephen Valentine  There are customs and excise charges on goods purchased online from the UK - the Irish government is making this known in public service announcements. It is also more difficult to change or return goods purchased in this way. Please stop spreading misinformation from the land of ignorant.
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  123. Actually, they have done so since 2014.
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  124. Where to start.... The EU will always stand by its members against outsiders, which is what the UK is now, even though it is still a full member of the EU. It is not Ireland's problem that the UK thought that it was so exceptional that all it had to do was strike a deal with Germany to hold the EU over a barrel. What a clusterf*ck that turned out to be. Once the UK (finally) leaves, Brexit will not be over and the EU will continue to have Ireland's back. This is because it is what the small nations of Europe (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Malta, Cyprus, Croatia, Slovenia, Luxembourg) expect from the bloc - that the EU should stand up to threats to the interests of smaller members by the British, the Russians or the United States. The EU is very good at it. That's one of the reasons for the existence of the bloc, not that a Brexiter would understand that. They will be behind Ireland when the UK returns to seek a deal with the EU in the future. And you will. The tax issue is another area I am better informed in than you. Taxation is a matter for individual states, and Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Sweden are in alliance against the EUs proposals. In the end there will be a compromise, as there always is in the EU, something the British seem to hate. Certainly, there has been no drop off in FDI into Ireland since the tax issue emerged, unless you are claiming to know more about the intentions of Intel, Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook, Google and all the rest. As a Brexiter, you probably do make this claim. Post-Brexit, Ireland remains ideally placed to eat the UKs lunch as the only English speaking member of the EU, providing a gateway into the European Union for American, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand FDI. Ireland has considerable soft power in the United States, being the closest friend of the White House within the EU and having a considerable Irish-American diaspora whose ancestors escaped famine with a bitterness for the British. It is also the sixth biggest investor into the United States, which impresses the moron in the White House. Brexiters are bitter little toe-rags, as you demonstrate. You may have no consideration for Ireland, but we will continue to defend our sovereign national interest regarding Brexit. The UK has overplayed its hand, failed to understand how the EU operates and is led by donkeys. Ireland is a confident country and benefits from consensus about Brexit - something the UK can only dream about - and it knows how to use its sovereignty effectively. Ireland also has the weight and power of 26 other nations behind it. Enjoy your deal-free Brexit and all that WTO it brings to you. Your trade deal with the US will be blocked by Congress if there is a hard border in Ireland. Its your remainers I feel sorry for.
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  125.  @reallywontsufferfools1620  Yes, anyone reading our posts will figure that I am the bitter one. By the way, your caps lock is stuck.
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  126. If you perceive a full and frank exchange of views as bitter, that is you prerogative. However, I was not addressing you, and yet you were triggered...and this suggests to me that you are projecting yourself onto me. Its a common argument type among some personalities. I understand that my comments were a close to the bone for you you and that you felt triggered to personally attack me. Of course I know your views, I'm surprised you keep bringing it up. Feel free to contradict anything I have said.
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  127. I know your views on Brexit. And you know I know. I triggered you.
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  128. He is the influential leader of Ireland, a self-confident nation that won its sovereignty from an Imperial oppressor and knows how to use it.
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  129. That is not how democracy works in the UK. It matters not that you deceive the the electorate, only that you got more votes than someone who told the truth, or few lies. Or so it would seem.
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  130. Nope. The UK needs the EU more than the EU needs the UK.
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  131. This is what happens when the UK leaves the EU without a plan.
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  132.  @aib0160  This does not change the fact that you left without a plan, and in fact is a disaster for your economy.
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  133.  @malahammer  I agree.
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  134. I agree. The two economies are diverging and will continue to do so over time.
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  135. The only reason Ireland has these problems is the UK, you know our friends with whom we had the best relations in 800 years, who were bragging in their media about taking Ireland hostage in the negotiations because of the landbridge. Those friends.
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  136. You wouldn't be considered weird south of the border, anyway. Get your Irish passport, quick!
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  137. That's up to the people of Northern Ireland.
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  138. An All-Ireland economy would be better for everybody on the island of Ireland.
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  139. @ Ford Prefect. Why would individual countries negotiate on their own with the UK when collectively they will get a better deal through the EU? And what country elects trade negotiators? What has any of this got to do with the President of Lithuania?
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  140. Dave you are obliged to follow regulations while you are members of the EU. Full stop. The UK is bound by EU rules equally with every other member state. The problem with the UK is that Brexiters don't see themselves as being equal to the rest of the EU. They're think they're special. The only reason you are playing ball is because you believe you were so special you would be given a 'have your cake and eat it' deal. And it all went wrong. Everybody else knew that this would not happen. The current political leadership of the UK, Jo Bo, JRM, IDS and the other pantomime toffs are no better. They're a laughing stock from the Atlantic to the Black Sea.
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  141.  @oldseadog3386  It would indeed, and I suppose that option will remain. But at the moment, hauliers feel that that delays at Dover because of additional red tape mean that the Rosslare to Dunkirk route is a better option. Three ferries head off there today, and the weather is fine for it.
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  142. What 'Agreement with the Irish' are you referring too?
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  143. @ Dwight Looi Yeah, that's not how it works Dwight. Only rogue states walk away from international treaties and they usually don't prosper thereafter as they are considered unreliable.
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  144. Because the EU holds all the cards.
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  145. Its like a cult.
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  146. 'For all Brits who have watched the Brexit Negotiations over the last 4+ years, and thats 65m people, it will take decades to establish trust in the EU. Why, because the EU has disrespected the British public and British democracy since the Brexit referendum....' What unadulterated rubbish. Reading your post you'd think that leaving the EU was the UNAMIOUS decision of the British people. It was not. You only speark for 52% (mostly English people), the other 48% saw this coming. 'And the Irish Republic has stuck the boots into the UK constantly, whilst hiding behind the EU. The UK will not forget the Irish Republic's behaviour for many many years'. The Irish Republic stood up for its interests with a country that was lecturing others on the value of sovereignty - you need to realise that others value their sovereignty too. Brexiters will soon forget about Ireland, if Brexit has thought the Irish anything, it is how quickly British people forget about Ireland - this time to their cost. Spare me your victim complex, and give me a shout in 800 years. Then we can talk about countries 'sticking boots' into each other on equal terms. Enjoy your self-imposed EU vassalage.
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  147.  @mikaham681  What utter rubbish. Ireland is full square with the European Union, it at the centre of the bloc, and so is not in a minority position. The Irish Republic shares the same values as the rest of the EU, and while Brexiter victimhood requires hatred of the UK, the Irish and the rest of the EU make a distinction between hating Brexit and feeling sorry for the UK because Brexit is an English brainfart. I support the UK in general but not in any way when it comes to harming Irish interests. England has left the wrong union because English nationalism has yet to grow a pair, admit its a nation, and stand on its own two feet. Ireland's position today has nothing to do with historical animosity. It is only concerned with not being used by Brexiters as leverage against the EU and to reduce the collateral damage of Brexit, which is something the Irish people never asked for. Support for membership of the EU is higher in Ireland than in any other member state.
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  148. omglabel Its not actually. it is a win for democracy and for social inclusion. This vote would not have been won without the support of some Christians who saw this issue as a civil right. Religious marriage is unaffected.
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  149.  Stephen Valentine  This initiative has everything to do with the UK. It would not be happening but for Brexit.
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  150.  John Bull  Ireland will long have diversified away from the UK by that stage. Ireland has been reducing its exposure to the UK market by an average of 1% per annum for 48 years!
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  151. It is port to port.
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  152. Brexiters and their victimhood! The UK is now in a permanent state of weakness when it enters negotiations with the EU, China, Brazil, India, Russia and the USA - the big boys. This is the new relationship you voted for, though it is taking some people longer than it should for the penny to drop. The UK is in this mess because it tried to leave without a plan and because May called a general election which resulted in her needing the support of the DUP to stay in power. This has tied her hands. We all know if that were not the case, the border of CU and SM would already be down the Irish sea, which is what most in NI actually want. The DUP don't represent the majority view in NI. What a self-made clusterf*ck.
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  153. Yeah, that's what you say now. But before the deal you were all relishing the requirement of Irish trucks to transit the UK on the way to the EU market. Pathetic
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  154. The Irish can't have 'northern Ireland back' under those circumstances, because the GFA sets out the rules under which unity can occur. The Irish want to stick to that set of rules - but Brexit is undermining it. Leaving without a deal will pull the rug from under unionism in NI just as nationalists are about to become the majority. It will destabilise NI and probably the whole island of Ireland. Perhaps you should have thought about all of this before the Brexit vote?
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  155. Ernest - We saw this coming in the Republic. The Brexit intention of taking control of the border was always unworkable with Ireland, but Brexiters always fobbed it off and voters in England really don't. Consequently, the problem was never part of the debate. The EU cannot have an open border with the UK - it would undermine the whole EU and is completely unrealistic. Ireland will not be forced out of the EU because of the UK either. The fault for this mess lies with the UK as the UK is the one leaving the EU.
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  156. Sorry, how is this harming the UK?
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  157. And to think Brexiters thought all this stuff was scaremongering.
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  158.  @eibhlin5940  well, they were the Anglo-normans. Britishness is just a container for English nationism.
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  159. The public do not vote in party leadership elections. The Dáil elected Varadkar as Taoiseach, just like every other Taoiseach in history. Your argument is facile.
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  160.  @robharris8844U  What I noticed was David Davis flying to Berlin to strike a deal, only for Merkel to redirect him to Brussels. It was hilarious.
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  161.  @robharris8844U  What's the 4th reek?
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  162.  @Andrew-is7rs  Sorry lad, hate and bigotry triumphed over multi-lateralism and inclusivity. And that's why you are out of the EU. Spare me you victimhood.
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  163. Punishment? That sounds like self-pity. It seems to me that the EU does not need the UK as much as the UK thought it did.
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  164. WHEN! When will the EU 'throw' Ireland under the bus! It NEVER HAPPENS!
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  165.  @simoncolombo6640  Welcome to Brexiter Doublethink!
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  166.  Stephen Valentine  There are reports on this topic online. They flatly contradict you wishful thinking.
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  167. @ liz allsebrook His mother is a farmers daughter from Dungarvan, County Waterford. Is that Irish enough for ya? It certainly more than meets the requirements of 'Irishness' as defined by Article 2 of the Irish constitution. So lets sum up, shall we? 1) you learned he is not an immigrant, but is Irish by birth and good fortune. 2) He has a strong Irish heritage through his mother's side 3) He is elected by the people in the same manner as every member of the Dáil and every Taoiseach in history. 4) He is a legitimate and acceptable member of the Irish Nation as defined by Article 2 of the Irish constitution, as voted for by the people of Ireland, because in Ireland, unlike the UK, the people are sovereign.
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  168. @ liz allsebrook You are indeed far right. You do not share the values of the vast majority of Irish people in relation to the definition of Irishness. Do not impose your values on Ireland, they do not apply. You were wrong about Varadkar being immigrant. You were wrong about the election process in Ireland. As a far right racist, you applied 'fake news' to justify your prejudice. This should indicate that I'm the grown up in this exchange.
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  169. @ liz allsebrook Tell me of a country in the world where the white population has been wiped out, please. The Irish have retained their national identity and sovereignty and are demonstrating it by standing up to Brexit lunatics like yourself.
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  170. There needs to be reconciliation first.
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  171. Under the Irish constitution, the name of the larger state on the island is Ireland. The name of the island is also Ireland. Only the British get bent out of shape over the nomenclature.
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  172. Well now that Brian Soloman is boycotting goods from Ireland, I'm sure Varadkar will have to rethink what's in his nations interest.
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  173. Sadly, the international community will not view such actions in the same light - Washington and Brussels have made it quite clear.
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  174.  @richardkavanagh8450  The UK has its 2nd highest net trade surplus with Ireland. Only the US provides a larger surplus.
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  175. Of course he does, he's a Brexiter.
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  176. 'Since when is democracy a mistake?' When a referendum is won based on demonstrable lies. 'UK citizens hate foreigners telling them what to do' And yet the English are not behind the door when it comes to telling foreigners what to do. 'If the EU is such a great thing why are yellow vest Frenchies rioting?' Because they don't like Macron, they want him to resign. Besides, the French are always rioting, blocking roads or striking.
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  177.  @brutallyhonest9140  The EU has a trade deal with Japan, the UK rolled it over for a less beneficial version. The UK has no trade deal Australia or New Zealand yet. Enjoy your isolation!
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  178.  @brutallyhonest9140  Ireland has never voted to leave the EU - Ireland has rejected two EU treaties, renegotiated them and then passed the AMENDED treaties with a higher turnout. That's called Direct Democracy in action. Only the UK has ever held a referendum to leave the EU. To be Brutally Honest, you're a bit thick.
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  179. @ Farmer ned The UK gave Ireland a loan. It was the smallest contributor to the bailout and charged the highest interest. The UK refused a final lump sum debt repayment in November 2017. The First Lisbon Treaty vote was about kicking an unpopular government and concerns about neutrality. The second vote was on a Lisbon Treaty with protocols protecting Irish neutrality. Ireland frequently 'votes again' in referenda - it is the very distillation of democracy. Nobody cares what you, a foreigner, thinks of an Irish Prime Minister.
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  180. Ireland will not be leaving the EU. Copying the craziest contortions of our former masters is not in the national interest.
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  181. The UKs future is as a vassal of the EU, you just don't understand that yet. Give it time.
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  182.  @redred7289  Notice Brexiters take no responsibility for their actions?
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  183. Anita French British people living in the UK are entitled to free medical treatment and all the benefits the Irish get. That's why so many of them live here. The Brits are allowed to vote in Irish elections, though not in the Presidential election. Please base you oppression on some facts.
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  184. Does the UK make a habit of signing international agreements is finds intolerable?
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  185. Irish trucks have been paying road tax since 2014.
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  186. Fail next year? You've already failed. You have more food banks than McDonald's restaurants, UNICEF are feeding your children, the worst economic hit from the pandemic in Europe, the highest death toll, the worst response, no capacity to cope with No Deal... and even before the pandemic you were facing your worst recession in 300 years. There will be riots in the streets of Britain in 2021.
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  187. The first death of the Troubles was killed by Gusty Spence and the UVF in 1966. The victim was a Catholic barman. The first RUC member killed in the Troubles, Constable Arbuckle, was killed by loyalists in 1969. The IRA did not emerge as a force until after these dates.
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  188. Well, it has taken them 800 years to leave Ireland and they are not fully gone yet.
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  189. What an excellent idea.
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  190. Ireland's glory days have not yet begun. Unlike the UK which looks backwards, the Irish see opportunities in the future. Ireland will protect the EU border until such time as the UK returns with some grown ups to the negotiating table clutching its 39 Billion. Ireland may offer tariff free transit of goods to the UK via northern Ireland after Brexit, creating jobs and sucking investment away from the UK, which will be on the wrong side of the EU border. It remains to be seen. Ireland does not meet the definition of tax haven, unlike many British Overseas Territories I could name. Your hypocrisy is ignoble and in keeping with your other envious and bitter comments. Ireland is roasting Brexiter fantasies on a spit. As a clueless fuckwit, you are unaware that it is in the gift of the US Internal Revenue Service to make their country more attractive for the repatriation of corporate taxes. Under Trump they have already made some inroads, but it has little impact in Ireland - the dollars just keep flooding in, along with increased employment and investment. Why don't you take you huge envy and bitterness somewhere else before I humiliate you further? The EU does not need the UK more than the UK needs the EU. Ireland will adapt and finally end any residual psychological dependency it has had on its former imperial master. Hows the stockpiling going? Do you have your Irish passport yet?
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  191. @ reallywont sufferfools Well of course it did. But yours is the same mind that believed that the EU needed the UK more that UK needed the EU and that the German car industry would ride to the rescue of and save your Brexit arses. It is understandable that you should not be able to tell the difference a full and frank rebuke and bitterness. Go back to sleep.
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  192.  @reallywontsufferfools1620  I'm your troll, am I? 🤣
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  193. Oh good, I wouldn't want to be YOUR troll. Why do you think I put up your views on Brexit?
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  194. @ reallywont sufferfools Of course I know your Brexit views: you support it, you voted for it, you're English and you are probably aged over 50 years. Now, its over to you to deny it.
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  195. I disagree. You have been wrong on every whinge you have subjected me to. All of this suggests that I am correct. You are English, pro-Brexit, over 50. I suspect you live alone, except for a dog. Probably a terrier. I hope you have a lovely weekend.
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  196. Well there's your problem - thinking. You need to stop thinking, you're not that good at it. Perhaps you should call the Samaritans.
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  197. Irish trucks have been paying road tax since 2014.
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  198. 'The trouble with Varadkar is he wants the EU to force the issue now, that could lead to trouble both ways and damage financial ties with the UK, thereby damaging Ireland economy.' The trouble with Varadkar is that he will not sacrifice his country at the altar of Brexit. I have no issues with the people of Ireland or NI, but Varadkar can bugger off, You have no say in the choice of Taoiseach and you opinion is irrelevant. You can dispel and notions that there is a politician in Ireland that would accommodate the UKs fantasies at Ireland's expense - neither Fianna Fáil nor Sinn Féin would be any easier to deal with, and may be more hardline. 'he is being used by the EU, they will destroy Ireland with immigration, change tax rules etc, you would be better off with joining the whole world with your own sovereignty....' The usual ill-informed tropes. Don't be transferring your national insecurities onto Ireland, they don't apply here. Ireland 'joined the world with its own sovereignty' between 1922 and 1973 and was economically dominated by the UK. EU membership acts as a counter balance to the UK and by pooling its sovereignty it can stand up to international bullies - like the UK - better.
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  199.  @markchesters8861  The failing currency in Europe at the present time is Sterling. I have no doubt any difficulties the Euro will face in the future will be overcome. A multi speed Europe lies in the future.
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  200. @ Mark Chesters Please don't try to obfuscate the collapse of sterling with Brexit and the threat of no deal, there is a direct co-relation. I understand that brexiters engage in Olympian levels of denial, but don't expect people living in the real world to play along with it.
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  201. @ Mark Chesters Australia and Canada are quite different to Ireland: both experienced inward migration, while Ireland experience net emigration until recently; both have vast natural resources. Ireland became fully independent in 1921 and yet found itself still dependent on the UK economically. Membership of the EU has resulted in Ireland being able to modernise its economy and diversify its markets. All members of the EU are equal decision makers - that has certainly been the Irish experience. It is quite different to the relationship the Irish had when part of the UK. All members of the EU pool elements of their sovereignty in order to amplify that sovereignty. They share it in order to maximise their abilities to get good trade deals they would not be able to get if they went it alone. It is done to enhance prosperity. In 1973 the average Irish income was about 2/3 of what it was in the UK. Today it is almost double. It would be a mistake to assume that Irish people suffer from the same insecurities around identity and attitudes to the EU as you find among the English. The Irish are comfortable with their place in the world and are confident in their national identity and culture. Leo Varadkar merely reflects the fact that 92% of Irish people support EU membership and that 94% voted to support the Good Friday Agreement. The opposition parties all support him in relation to the his governments stand.
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  202. It is difficult to see how Ireland's economy will collapse when only 11% of Irish exports go to the UK. The EU is negotiating in good faith, but it also has a responsibility to protect its members.
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  203.  @brutallyhonest9140  Yes, that is precisely it. Your neighbours are as distant to you now as all of those countries. Is that not what you voted for?
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  204. I was just wondering what was democratic about the referendum which is taking you out of the EU.
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  205. Yes, so what was democratic about the referendum on leaving the EU? It's a simple question.
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  206. How am I going around in circles? I'm asking a question you don't understand and/or can't answer. If you cannot tell me how the Brexit referendum was democratic, then how can you believe in it? Happy William Shakespeare's birthday.
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  207. What was democratic about the referendum? Its a simple question, its not rocket science.
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  208. @ Archie Andrews Odd isn't it. Such warnings of dire consequences the UK are ignored as project fear and yet the consequences for everyone else are believed by Brexiters.
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  209. Up to 1st January, there was frictionless trade. Now there is paperwork, potential for delays at Dover, COVID-19 lockdowns with the French, and a British government that has shown the potential to use Ireland as a bargaining chip with the EU. That makes it feasible, and in Ireland's strategic national interest.
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  210. Looks like that's going to happen anyway.
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  211. @ToonandBBfan and Rory Good We all need each other. In this world were are all interdependent.
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  212. What? You mean like trying to leave the EU without a plan?? You think they can beat that, do ya??
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  213. No he didn't.
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  214. There are new 'Brexit Buster' ferries available for the Dublin-Rotterdam route, everyone is just waiting to see how things work out first.
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  215. Really? You only want ferry ports with the Ireland if it agrees that the UK is the mainland? And you have a vote in your country? LMAO! No wonder the UK is such a laughing stock across the world right now.
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  216. @ Cliff Smith What 'ludicrous conclusion'?!?! You concluded that because Britain is not Ireland's mainland the 'ludicrous conclusion' is that ferries from Britain to Ireland should be stopped? You need to explain yourself. The UK is leaving the EU and clearly wants to have less to do with its neighbours. The Irish are less insecure about themselves and are quite happy to maintain the status quo. It is not the Irish who are changing the status quo, is it?
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  217.  @robertwhite3059  I would if you could export it.
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  218.  @robertwhite3059  London's financial trading is slowly shifting to New York, Amsterdam, Dublin, Frankfurt, Paris and Madrid.
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  219. Under the GFA, your you can be Irish, British or both. According to the Home Office, everyone born in NI is automatically British and they have to claim their Irish identity. This is because the British have never passed the legislation to recognise this element of the Good Friday Agreement. In this regard, the issue of identity, under international treaty the people of NI can have their cake and eat it.
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  220. I don't think the British are in a position to accuse others of having useless politicians.
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  221. It will increase to 30 sailings per week on the Rosslare-Dunkirk route.
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  222. On the contrary. The Irish are commemorating, not celebrating, their independence from the UK. The value of that struggle a century ago is that today it continues to pool its sovereignty with other small nations for the benefit for its citizens. The English have voted to horde their sovereignty in an ivory tower. That will solve none of the problems that led to Brexit.
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  223. Which is your favourite example of the EU breaking international law?
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  224. Ireland and the border issue is about to be used by BoJo to hold Ireland hostage in order to get something off the EU. It will fail. The only hope for Ireland's economy is to stay with the EU as Ireland never prospered under the shadow of a selfish England with notions about itself.
    2
  225. The entire approach of the EU has worked so far.
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  226.  @sportysixfifty5040  What is the third world now? The UK?
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  227.  @genghisthegreat2034  Ha! I get it.
    2
  228. @Fantômas 13 This is true.
    2
  229.  @stevedarby3470  Tell that to businesses in Fishguard and Holyhead.
    2
  230. MrCoffeeparty Dire consequences were predicted when the African slave trade was was abolished too.
    1
  231. omglabel Yeah, but its too narrow a view in my opinion.  There are plenty of atheists with similar views and if we get into religion bashing we're no better that the zealots and fundamentalists.  Religion is fine, but it should be a private matter.
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  232. omglabel I doubt it.
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  233. MrCoffeeparty I doubt that too.
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  234. What a stupid comment and ill-informed comment.
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  235. Only 8% of the Irish population support leaving the EU.
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  236.  @fuzzyspackage  It is quite clear that the UK was the one that signed the deal without reading it. It was deliberate, so that Johnson could win his election. If they did read it, they signed it without intending to implement it.
    1
  237.  @christophersangster4295  What?
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  238. @Alex Rigden Really? You know there is extra paperwork on that route now, which Irish supploers dont want to engage in, right?
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  239. @Alex RigdenI would sugeest those in the export business know better as regards export red tape, ask a British fisherman at the moment. Soon it wil be everyone's problem...
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  240. @Alex Rigden If you are planning to fly fish out to the Far East, why is Rees Mogg telling British fishermen that they should be happy that the fish are British? There is no mention of 'cheap jumbos' from him. All American duties placed on European goods by Trump will be removed by Biden, you can be sure of that. He wants a closer relationship with the EU and supports the notion of multi-lateralism.
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  241. @Alex Rigden Your fishing industry is on its knees. Where is the sunlit uplands for British fishermen?
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  242. @ Nigel Johnson The UK was a mess when it joined the EEC in 1973, and even needed a bail out in 1976. The UK is a mess because of decades of appalling domestic governance and for some reason it is the EU that is getting rap for it. When are the English going to grow up and admit they have failed themselves?
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  243. @ Nigel Johnson The UK was always a net contributor because it did not claim back enough of the cash FOR ITS OWN PEOPLE. Some of the most economically deprived places in the whole of Europe are in the UK, and yet UK governments and local authorities never drew down funds available to help communities that were left behind. Had you done so then you would not have been net contributors with a sense of victimhood about it. You failed yourselves.
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  244.  @JK-ux9du  Please support your assertion in relation to my comments.
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  245. None. The convention in the English language is to call nearly all national heads of government "prime minister" (sometimes the equivalent term "premier") except in the cases where the head of state and head of government are fused into one position, usually a presidency, regardless of the correct title of the head of government as applied in his or her respective country. The few exceptions to the rule are Germany and Austria, whose heads of government titles are almost always translated as Chancellor; Monaco, whose head of government is referred to as the Minister of State; and Vatican City, for which the head of government is titled the Secretary of State. In the case of Ireland, the head of government is occasionally referred to as the Taoiseach by English speakers.
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  246. I'm Irish, and its not about a united Ireland - now is not the time or the circumstance for that - south of the border we want no changes to the status quo. Leaving things as they will put a united Ireland off for another couple of generations, Brexit will bring it subject to the fore much sooner...
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  247.  @tomhulme1176  Nobody in Ireland voted for any changes, so Ireland will not support them.
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  248. They will make the decision, but they will do so having consulted Ireland. They have consulted Ireland at every stage and Ireland has the unflinching support of the Commission and the 26 members states. As it happens, it is a plain as day that the current proposals put forward today are unworkable in a broader EU context. Ireland is sovereign. Being a small country with the ability to stand up to a larger nation which is used to throwing its weight around is what happens when you pool sovereignty with 26 other nations. Its the first time Ireland has been able to do that in 800 years.
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  249. With respect Tom, what is obvious to a Brexit is usually determined by or relative to, the extent of their knowledge. The EU and Ireland are on record as saying that there will be no hard border in Ireland until such time as the UK diverges from EU standards. On 1st November the UK will still need a deal with the EU. The border, money, freedom of movement etc will be all on the agenda in Brussels once again. The realities of Brexit will help focus minds in the UK.
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  250. That's wonderful Tom, but the rest of Europe is happy with the EU. Nobody requires liberation from it. Support for EU membership has hardened across the bloc with anti-EU parties rejecting a national 'exit' in favour of reform of the union. This is entirely down to the farce in your country. Misery loves company, but nobody else will be following the UK out. It is very obvious that Brexit has been embraced with all the fervour of a religious belief by those who adhere to it. You can't actually have a rational discussion about Brexit with a Leaver because reason has nothing to do with it - its all emotional. People don't make good decisions when they are based on emotion. Brexit as an idea is not coherent and ultimately not sustainable. It has exposed the divisions within England and within the broader UK, the democratic deficits you all put up with, its inequalities and diverging identities. Brexit will not solve these issues and is an exercise in displacement - the English are leaving the wrong union. It will be interesting to see how many will continue to support Brexit when the UK leaves and its realities are apparent. It will be interesting to see how the Scottish react, in the knowledge that their aspirations are forever to be over ruled by an English people with different values. What we are witnessing is not the UK becoming 'independent' - we're witnessing the slow break up of the UK.
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  251. Hauliers in NI usually travel to the continent or GB via Dublin because its shorter. When the UK leaves and diverges, NI goods will have to be checked when they cross the border. This is a hard border.
    1
  252. About 13% of the population of the UK was born outside the country. The figure for Ireland is 17%. Granted, nearly have of these immigrants come from Poland and the UK, but immigrants integrate well here and we have no right-wing anti immigration parties that don't fail to lose their deposit when they run in elections. The concept of multi-layered identity is part of the Irish national identity now. In the Irish constitution, the definition of the Irish nation includes the notion that you can have more than one identity by including people of Irish heritage as part of the Irish nation: you can be Irish and British, Irish and American, Irish and European, Black, Muslim, Jewish and so on. You don't have that type of civic nationalism in England - its an ethnic nationalism. There's no mention anywhere of conscription into an EU Army - except in the UK right-wing media. In any case, Ireland has an exemption from the EU Army in the Lisbon Treaty, which is what the Irish people had included as a protocol in the Treaty and voted for in that second referendum that Nigel Farage believes is an example of the Irish being 'made to vote again'. Ireland voted for its membership of the EEC and later the EU. The Irish people vote on every single treaty change and so we 'own' our membership in a way British people never did. The Irish people never voted to be part of the United Kingdom in 1801. I won't give you a history lesson, but Ireland experienced real oppression under British rule and we know what real oppression looks like. Its the same in Europe: between the ambitions of Hitler, Franco, Mussolini, Salazar and Stalin, Europeans know what real oppression looks like. Our country is still dealing with the consequences London made in the interests of an establishment which spoke a different language, practiced a different religion, culture and customs than the natives. English oppression within the EU is merely a product of the English imagination. It would appear that some English concluded that if the English are not ruling the EU, then the EU must be ruling them. Brexit is seem as a very English tantrum. When you have to shoot your way out of the union you want to leave, perhaps we can compare the Irish independence and with the UK leaving the EU... You don't get taught much Irish history in the UK. Mores the pity.
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  253. 'The missing part is the key fact the boarder with the uk and northern island would be in the sea effectively keeping northern island in the customs union.' Everybody in NI except the DUP want NI kept in the customs union.
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  254. There is a serious democratic deficit at the heart of all this, but there won't be another deal on offer.
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  255. BoJo is the wild card in the pack - he could do anything. The EU is aware of this but is prepared for a hard Brexit. The EU thinking seems to be that once the UK experiences the reality of WTO rules it will be back seeking a trade deal.
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  256. Demand for cars in the UK will decline sharply as your unemployment rises, especially as the tarrif will be passed on to you in the price of that car. It will simply be part of the negative price shock you face from the 1st November. Seriously, if WTO tariffs were so brilliant, why do other countries strive to negotiate trade deals or set up trading blocs?
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  257.  @doniehurley7634  I totally agree.
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  258.  @nigeljohnson9820  What countries export into the EU and ignore EU standards? Why has the UK business refused to change its standards for the UK government? They want to stay with EU standards. Why, if there is an advantage for the UK in adopting new standards?
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  259.  @nigeljohnson9820  No they don't. There is no business sense in holding TWO sets of standards. British business have made that clear. They have EU standards and the UK is maintaining them for that very reason.
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  260. Nobody wants here job before the UK leaves. Then she's toast.
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  261. Why is Varadkar 'leading Ireland into a recession once again' a bad thing when a Johnson leading the UK into recession once again is okay?
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  262. Nigel, its not the EU that is myopic, it is UK. Read what Sam Hartford has posted over and over again until you understand it.
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  263. @ Nigel Yes, but you will not last long...a country that throws an international peace treaty under a bus and walks away from a €39 billion commitment to the EU will be something of a pariah on the international stage. And you will have to come back. You will find that trading on WTO without trade deals alongside Somalia, South Sudan, East Timor, The Vatican, Serbia, Monaco, Sudan and Western Sahara comes at a cost you cannot bear. You will come crawling back when the City decides it wants a deal with the EU, the worlds largest trading bloc, on its doorstep. You will cough up the 39 billion and return to Customs Union and Single Market in order get a quick deal. The humiliation will be complete. You will have discovered the limitations of independence in a world of interdependence. You will leave, and you will return. Which part of that do you not understand?
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  264. @ Nigel Johnson No country in the EU is dictated to by anybody - this the myth your Brexit is based upon. It is not like the US State Department, which has dictated your country's foreign policy since 1945, for example. The EU is its membership - Ireland IS the EU, just like the UK and the other members are. You owe bills to the EU that you will pay either now or later. You will have to put a customs check on your border in Ireland in accordance with WTO regulations - the unelected bureaucrats in Switzerland will set you straight on that in a few weeks time. It was the Irish who brought the issue of the British border in Ireland in the context of the Belfast Agreement to Brussels and Irish diplomats who got it placed at the top of the EU agenda alongside money and freedom of movement. The fact is, Ireland has the UK by the balls and it is your own fault.
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  265. @ Nigel Johsnon We shall see indeed. Given that every single Brexiter prediction has failed to materialise, your confidence is heroic.
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  266. There is 90% support for EU membership in Ireland; it got the customs border in the Irish Sea and tariff and quota free access to the UK market; Brexit has pushed Ireland into establishing independent access to the Single Market, bypassing the UK landbridge. Ireland will not be leaving the EU no matter how much you 'hope' for it.
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  267.  @jintarokensei3308  The other way around? I don't understand.
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  268.  @jintarokensei3308  Yes, I could see that happening.
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  269.  @mikepost8965  I think you have hit the nail on the head. I too was wondering why the obsession with others leaving the EU, and belief that the EU will collapse: it would bring validation to a act that will otherwise be self-inflicted harm.
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  270.  @jayroberts4926  Oh I don't know. He would fit in well alongside Trump and Johnson wth their attitudes to women and the 'me too ' movement.
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  271.  @jayroberts4926  Diarmuid McMurrough, King of Leinster, was a man of his time. Trouble is, Trump and Johnson are both of his time too.
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  272. Nope, very little has been spent on Rosslare so far. Most of the expenditure was at Dublin port.
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  273. In Ireland dual citizenship is perfectly legal, and is an expression of the values in articles 2 and 3 of the Irish constitution.
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  274.  @robharris8844U  the third what?
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  275.  @robharris8844U  That's a double negative. What's a reek?
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  276.  @robharris8844U  Leave what?
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  277.  @brutallyhonest9140  What?
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  278.  @Andrew-is7rs  I didn't lose anything Andrew. I'm Irish, living in an independent country and a citizen of the European Union.
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  279. Its not 16 sailings per week, it is 30 sailings per week. Furthermore the capacity on the Rosslare-Cherbourg route has been doubled. More ferries will be provided if required, or if the Dover crossing proves to be more beneficial, the landbridge will be used again.
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  280. Ireland will have to put a customs border up between it and the EU - nobody is saying that, but it is sticking out a mile that this is the only alternative option. Irish people will resent the UK for this, but I suspect it will be temporary. A few years without any trade deals and exposed to WTO will see UK delusions evaporate. The UK, perhaps under a labour government, will be ready to discuss a future relationship with the EU in a more grown up manner.
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  281. @ Archie Andrews Yes there is a group calling for a referendum on membership - it has zero support and represents only itself - it was founded by an acolyte of Nigel Farage who thinks that the Irish were ordered to voted again in during the Lisbon treaty referendum saga. Support for EU membership is running at 92% and has actually increased since Brexit. I am unaware of the EU being painted as the land of milk and honey - that's a new one on me I must admit.
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  282. @ Archie Andrews I could also point to Leavers who have regretted their decision now that they know the truth about Leaving. Things change over time, and once leaving is seen as making no difference to the sense of inequality many leavers felt when making the decision to vote against membership, it is likely that a more mature approach towards EU neighbours will be seen as appropriate. Reading online it is clear that forces in some EU countries that wished too Leave the EU are less certain about it now. In many ways, Brexit has brought its members together in solidarity. At the same time, reading the UK media you would swear that the EU is gripped by a sense of panic at the UK leaving and that the rest of Europe is looking to the UK to path-find a way out of the EU. The main problem in many countries is that, like UKIP, populist parties present simplistic solutions for internal problems, many of which have nothing to do with the EU.
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  283. Immigrant? He's Irish and lives in Ireland you fuckwit. He was elected by his Dublin West constituency and topped the poll. He was elected Taoiseach by the Dáil just like every Taoiseach in history
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  284. Sorry, I don't believe you have any close Irish connections - you are far too ignorant for that. For example, you claim Varadkar is 'mixed race' and is therefore not Irish. Who do you think you are? We Irish do not define our nationality along such binary terms. There is nothing in the definition of the Irish Nation in the Irish constitution that mentions race as a defining factor. You can be any race in Ireland and still be Irish under the parameters outlined in the constitution. The English, being insecure and possessing a binary notion of identity, take race into account when considering identity. The Irish and the English do not share the same values. That makes you a racist, but I'm sure you know that already.
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  285. I'm neither liz, but you are a racist.
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  286. @ Bazil McBazil Sadly, there is a majority in NI that disagrees with you.
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  287. Nostradamus?
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  288. How do you know he is an EU puppet?
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  289.  @jmcc8156  Your reconciliation may not be required.
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  290.  @jmcc8156  Why do you think anyone would need to be reconciled with Ireland?
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  291.  @jmcc8156  Reconiliation is required between the two traditions in NI, as you well know.
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  292. He represents the majority of Irish people, except for those who think he is soft on the British government.
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  293. Irish truck drivers have been paying UK road tax since 2014.
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  294. I'm afraid you will need Irish food for sometime to come.
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  295. No, he's right. The UK is finished, there is too much division in your polity and in your society, there is no strong British Demos anymore, and nine of the ten most deprived parts of the EU are in the UK. The UK needs to leave without a deal so that in a year or two, after the reality of Brexit is understood, it can come back to the negotiating table and accept the EUs terms for a comprehensive trade deal. When that happens, Ireland will be your biggest supporter in the EU.
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  296. ;if you are right about the most deprived areas being in the UK, they were created while a member of the EU and while the UK is the second or third highest contributor to the EU budget. Now why is that?' Poor domestic policies by successive British governments of all hues. The Richest part of the EU is also in the UK. Now why is that? 'The UK needs to leave to have the freedom to rebalance its economy' It will not work. It will only succeed in increasing economic inequality. Unless that is of course the plan. 'If we were to stay the EU should be paying the UK from the EU budget. Given your analysis I suggest the UK should be receiving the maximum amount.' Yes, but you have to apply for it like everyone else. 'I like the delay if it means taking part in EU elections, it gives the UK longer to damage the EU and more time to prepare for a no deal Brexit' More damage? The UK has done no damage yet. Get back to me when you have something approaching a coherent argument.
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  297. 'try this, the EU is negotiating with the most corrupt, incompetent and duplicitous UK govenment.' The EU has not begun to negotiate yet. The EU has simply set out its terms, while the UK has done nothing but negotiate with itself. Brexit, as promised, cannot be delivered but the slow learners think they are being betrayed. 'Any inconsistencies can be ascribed to the dichotomy between the UK political elite and the UK people.' Your problem is your own entitled, privately educated, confident but deeply ignorant elite - not the EU. They are out of touch with many of British, mainly English, citizens. Blaming the EU is simply displacement. 'The UK has slowed the federalisation of the EU and could still veto the next EU budget' Perhaps, but the UK has overplayed fears of a ferderal Europe in their own Project Fear, as really only the French and Germans want it. The future of the EU is not as a superstate, but as a multi-speed bloc. 'A budget that will be difficult anyway, if the UK leaves without a deal and no agreed payment to the EU.' The UK contribution to the EU budget is tiny when compared to the EUs GDP. Currently members pay 1% of their GDP into EU coffers, and raising this to a whooping 1.1% will cover the UK contribution. Let go of this 'they need us more than we need them' rubbish, it is mere hubris.
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  298. 'you are confusing the EU budget with the GDP of the EU, not he same.' The EU budget comes from the contributions each member makes annually - their 1% of GDP pay-in The UKs contribution is easily replaced by increasing these payments by .1% per member. I'm not confusing anything. 'Multi speed Europe, don't be stupid.' I'm not. Progress in the EU can only occurred if all are agreed; the Italians and the Dutch are two of the original members who have already become skeptical about the Superstate; there is no way the EU is will be able to agree to much further integration when you have 27 countries with 27 different aspirations and agendas. Brexit is not only a learning curve for the UK, you know. 'You will all be paying EU income tax in no time.' Is this a feeling or a fact based statement? 'Super state EU is really a French project supported by the eurocrats. The Germans are not so keen given they are begining to realise they are going to pay for it while losing much of the control they once had.' The Germans and the French will make the core of the multi-speed EU. '...they have just issued demands and expected the UK to comply, well that is not going to happen.' We will see. So far the UK has managed to deliver none of its promises based on its trade with the EU, and the UK has rolled over on a regular basis. I think the UK will crash out, a hard border will go up in Ireland the UK will return to the negotiating table once the economic reality of Brexit hits the ordinary people. Unfortunately, its up to the EU to be adult in the room. I give it two or three years.
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  299.  Pyro  Gammon alert.
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  300. It looks like Boris blinked and is leaving NI inside the Customs Union now. What are your thoughts?
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  301.  @dvidclapperton  The ERG and the DUP both have their own agendas, Farage has never been elected to the House of Commons and Trump is only interested making America great again. I don't believe there is a majority of No Deal in the UK, there is no evidence of it that I'm aware of. If the UK dumps NI inside the CU and GB is free to trade with the world, wouldn't that be enough for the ERG and Farage? We know from polls of the Tory party membership that they would be happy to dump NI to get Brexit.
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  302. 'The EU preaches we all must have open boarders to the third world' The EU makes no such pronouncements. The EU promotes freedom of movement within its borders. 'But Britain n Ireland MUST have strict boarder control.' Yes, because of the UK is leaving the Single Market and Customs Union.
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  303.  @fuzzyspackage  *you're
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  304.  @fuzzyspackage  What??
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  305. Unbelievable - these people are like Mid-western Americans, just in living in Europe.
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  306. 'Grow some ball's for what?
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  307.  @a.j.mcintosh7183  Hang on, if Ireland can change its national law, that must mean...its sovereignty is unaffected by EU membership.
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  308.  @a.j.mcintosh7183  Thats great news. Brexiters have been telling me my country was no longer sovereign because it is in the EU.
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  309. The UK is the union that's doomed.
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  310. But the UK does not want a level playing field, remember?
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  311.  @brutallyhonest9140  You really are slow learner. In Ireland, we often vote more than once over a particular issue: abortion, divorce, EU treaties - have all subject to multiple votes. If the facts change, we change our mind. In the UK you remain wedded to the original decision because of a lack of confidence in democracy. The UK has little experience of referenda, in Ireland referenda are a normal part of our democratic process. It is not possible to 'push the Lisbon treaty through' under the Irish constitution. It is only possible to vote again on a different treaty or an amended treaty - which is what Ireland did. It is an example of Direct Democracy in action, because in Ireland sovereignty lies with the people, not in Parliament.
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  312. You don't have an army big enough.
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  313. The border poll is all about timing. It would be insane to have a border poll BEFORE the UK leaves the EU. The Unionists would feel pressurised into it. It is necessary for the UK to leave the EU first. Once the reality of Brexit hits home for those in NI, it will help to focus minds on a potential future outside the UK. The new Ireland that will result if the people vote to united will still need to be negotiated, and that will take many months if not a few years.
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  314.  @ckb6091  In relation to Brexit? Common sense.
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  315. @CKB The Irish people voted to join the EEC in a referendum in 1972 - you did not. The Irish people voted for every treaty change along the way thereafter. As the Irish people were not happy with the Nice and Lisbon treaties, these were rejected. Following consultation with our EU partners, including he UK, protocols were inserted allaying Irish anxieties and these were then carried by the voting public in referenda. In Ireland, where we have a strong democracy, this is the very essence of democracy in action. In the UK, asking people to vote again in light of new information or a change in circumstances, is considered UNDEMOCRATIC. You couldn't make it up. I'm sorry you listened to Farage who misread the situation regarding Lisbon and declared Ireland to be Eurosceptic. He ended up with egg on his face in the end. Support for EU membership is currently standing at 92% in the Ireland. Btw, the pantomime that passed for pre-referendum debate in the UK in 2016 would not be seen in the chamber of an Irish County Council. Don't ever hold one again. Leave referenda to the grown ups!
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  316.  @Firedancer100  British eurosceptics have predicting the end of the bloc since the end of the 1950s. How much time do you need?
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  317. Ireland is being stabbed in the back?
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  318. Depends on your job. If you are collecting milk from farms in the border area you can go back on forth along the road several times in a day. Plus you can drive along the same road and cross the border several times without turning off it. So crossing the border 15 times in one day is quite possible depending on your job. Putting controls on that border will be deeply resented.
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  319.  @alangardner8596  The agreement is an international agreement, no matter how you try to riddle it. It was the UKs fault that it was not signed sooner. It argued with itself for years as to what kind of Brexit it wanted and then put a deadline on trade negotiations. The UK held out until the 11th hour, in the belief that the UK would cave in when it went down to the wire - it didn't. That leaves the UK stuck with an agreement that does not fulfill many of its promises. It is quite possible the deal will never be ratified, but unlikely. The EU will never go to WTO because the economic consequence would be intolerable - that bluff was called in December.
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  320.  @alangardner8596  I'm certain that the UK cannot do without the EU. I've never seen this reduced figure of 12% before - this must reflect a switch away from UK products that is greater than I anticipated.
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  321. ​ @alangardner8596  I understand that it is very important for Brexiters that the UK is seen as 'very important'. The trouble is, internationally, it is not currently seen as 'very serious'. Your post exemplifies that. The figure from before Brexit was 46% and not 12%. Everybody in the EU is selling less to the UK since the referendum, because of sterling, the up to 20% COVID-19 related collapse in the UK economy last year and because suppliers are seeking new markets away from the UK. Since January, the price of cars is likely to have risen due to increased paperwork required just to export to the UK, making them less affordable. It is quite possible also, though I have no evidence to support it, that the production of cars is down due to COVID restrictions at manufacturing plants. Where do we see it going? We shall see trade between the UK and the EU continue to decline with many Small and Medium Size Enterprises in the UK going to the wall. In Europe, SMEs will find new markets within the Single Market, filling gaps vacated by the UK. They will do much better by comparison.
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  322.  @alangardner8596  Yes, the UK is not in the EU, that is why you buried in too many regulations and paperwork - when you were members the Single Market was an extension of your local market. Now you are confined to Britain. So the problem is not the EU, the problem is Brexit. When you trade with the rest of the world you will still have the same problems of paperwork, quotas and tariffs. Brexiters never seem to understand that.
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  323.  @alangardner8596  Well of course, that is quite natural. Trade follows the path of least resistance, most particularly for SMEs who just don't have the resources to deal trade with the EU anymore. Most of them will go to the wall. That was one of the reasons Brexit is a bad idea, but to say so would have you branded a 'scaremonger'. I take it the penny has not dropped that Brexit was a con yet?
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  324. Who mentioned anything about a blockade? Dont worry, the Irish won't let you starve, we will have the humanity to save Brexiters from themselves. The schadenfreude will be delicious though.
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  325.  John Bull  It is on paper, but as that eel exporter discovered during the week, those are potential figures - there is no guarantee EU consumers will not look elsewhere to goods they used to purchase from the UK: after all the UK is outside the CM and SM and does not use the Euro. EU Consumers will follow the path of least resistance....
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  326.  John Bull  Companies will not bother with paper work if they can avoid it, they will follow the path of least resistance and trade inside the EU. You're welcome to negotiating substandard trade deals and we will welcome an independent England back into the EU fold in about 20 years time.
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  327.  @Floweringlotus  20% of RAF pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain were from somewhere other than England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
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  328.  @Floweringlotus  Sorry, what?
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  329. UK has already thrown itself under a bus.
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  330. @ Beast Dad's Army was British. Ireland has never been at war and never collaborated with the Nazi's. You have a vote, do ya?
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  331. Makes you wish they'd had a plan to vote on back in 2016.
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  332. Actually, the EU is doing what Ireland requested, which was possible because Ireland is in the EU and the UK is leaving. The EU always sides with its members over non-members.
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  333. 'Their own agenda'. It is our agenda. Ireland is the EU, just like Bulgaria and Belgium. Only Brexiters have your views and so far they have been wrong about everything they predicted.
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  334. How so?
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  335.  @jasonkingshott2971  Sorry, what?
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  336.  Leroy Jenkins 2.0  You're the quiet one, not me.
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  337.  @aib0160  Again, if you had bothered with a plan, if people had voted upon that plan, you would not have had MPs and parties arguing over what type of Brexit you voted for. The UK will not tear up the agreement, that bluff was called last December. If it were left to the UK and the RoI to resolve the border issue, the UK would merely steam roll over Ireland and the Irish would just have to put up with it, and probably leave the EU or the SM - neither of which the Irish people voted for - and to the detriment of the Irish economy. We know that when Brexiters talk about sovereignty and independence they do not take into account that others value their sovereignty and independence too. As Sajid Javid stated on TV one Sunday morning, 'the tail cannot be allowed to wag the dog'. That's lovely, Sajid, thanks. The EU is not weaponising the border. The border is an issue the UK never considered and it is a problem for which it has no solution, undermining the 'we hold all the cards' mantra that English nationalists were seduced by. Brexiters never considered that the EU would stand by a small member state in relation to an 'important' country like the UK, failing to understand that the EU is made up of 'small states', and one departing state that does not know it is small. The Irish also wiped the floor diplomatically in Washington, so much so, that British diplomats have been told to 'copy the Irish' in terms of winning friends and influencing people in the United States. The border issue does not have and never had, anything to do with the free movement of people between these islands. The problem is the movement of goods and the anger Irish people living on the border would have in relation to checks because of a vote held on another island. Now we can see the anger of Unionists in Northern Ireland, Brexit supporters, as borders are being placed in the Irish Sea. We can see the UK is not implementing all it is supposed to, and that Boris's claim that there would be no paperwork is another Boris lie. We can see how the DUP are desperately trying to undermine the Irish Sea checks because their supporters are deserting them, deserting them because they made the strategic error of blindly supporting Brexit even after being sacrificed by the Tories. But if you're a Brexiter, you blame the EU.
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  338. Oh it will get worse. Wait until they leave without a deal and can't feed themselves...
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  339. Ireland is an option for those wishing to study English, it is already a large industry experiencing a boom since 2016. Problem solved.
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  340.  @safewaycart  You are conflating two sectors, I believe: English Language Schools and the University system. English language schools attract students from all over the world; the Universities are expanding to accommodate EU and American students. I have no doubt there are more opportunities to be exploited from Brexit. Luxembourg’s prime minister Xavier Bettel, Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez and Austria’s chancellor Sebastian Kurz all learned their English in Ireland. The leader of the opposition in the Ukraine also learned her English in Ireland.
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  341.  @safewaycart  At all levels, there are opportunities in the Irish education system for graduate and post graduate students. Post pandemic, there may well be even further opportunities, as the online infrastructure could well open new doors to access.
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  342.  @safewaycart  There is an old saying in Ireland: 'England's difficulty is Ireland opportunity'. I expect the Irish government is already planning to make the most of whatever opportunities Brexit presents for Ireland. Incidentally, I was staggered that the UK government refused participation in the Erasmus programme, what a spiteful act against its own young people. I suspect it is to ensure there is no encouragement of the pro-EU lobby in the UK.
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  343. Oh, it looks like your roads are going to be clogged like never before going forward.
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  344.  @grahamsmith9541  So much for controlling your borders, eh?
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  345. Boris?
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  346. The Brexit chickens are coming home to roost.
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  347. You can't even spell border.
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  348. Really? What was democratic about the referendum?
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  349. Well, it will cost less than Brexit. Enjoy!
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  350.  @duncanandrews1940  You have no idea about oppression. How could you know about Freedom?
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  351.  @duncanandrews1940  Of course - we didn't like the treaty so we renegotiated it, and voted to pass the AMENDED treaty with a higher turnout. The very essence of Direct Democracy in action. Farage didn't tell ya that did he, when ended up with egg on his face having declared Ireland 'eurosceptic'. Moron.
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  352. @ Ford Prefect I agree - a no deal is most likely, given the utter shambles in London. If it was raining soup, the UK political class would be out with forks. If you think £39 billion is for purchasing the silence of EU member states you are sorely mistaken.
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  353. What??
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  354. He does. But he also understands that the UK really needs a deal with the EU.
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  355.  @oldseadog3386  Indeed. The ferry compamies dont anticiapte msny serious problems.
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  356. What about all the EU treaties they passed?
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  357. No. The Romanians were caught putting horse meat in meat products by Irish scientists.
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  358.  @anthonyreright2519  It was imported as beef.
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  359. On the contrary, the British think sovereignty means they ride rough-shod over everybody elses interest and it turned out not to be the case. Brexit, no matter what the outcome, was always going to leave the UK in the position of vassal to the EU. It is just a matter of degree.
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  360.  @albertmcmullen2669  If there is no agreement, the UK remains in a situation where decisions made in Brussels will continue to have an impact on it, but without any ability to influence those decisions. It will render the UK a vassal of the EU.
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  361. Oh please - how is Ireland 'meddling'? It is merely protecting its national interests from a foreign threat. This Swiss have cues at their border - how is that the same as what we have today on the British border in Ireland?
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  362. What?
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  363.  @cmdrlevianova1485  No, the Irish were never okay with the House of Lords, and the unelected feudal system the represent. It is one of the reasons the Irish left the UK a century ago. What killed a million Irish people in famine was the decision in 1846 by the government to declare the famine over and cease feeding 3 million people on ideological grounds. But the British love their institutions and prefer to displace concerns for their domestic democratic deficits onto the EU rather than dealing with them at home. Finally, for Brexiters, the shortcomings of their ambitions are always somebody else's fault.
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  364. You're only stopping the transportation of live animals to the EU because you don't have enough vets! Most of your vets for livestock came from the European Union!
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  365.  @millhilljimjimmy6731  The UK has been unable to feed itself for 200 years, you blaming the EU for that??
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  366. Why should the Irish listen to the English given their track record in Ireland?
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  367. You have to have a border between two different customs areas.
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  368. @ flip inheck That will be news to the people of Sweden.
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  369. Or the US State Department.
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  370. That's because the UK does not have enough vets to check them.
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  371.  @anthonyreright2519  No. That was the Romanians, it was the Irish who detected it.
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  372. @ Cliff Smith The UK is not a mainland - its 'the other island'. France is the mainland.
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  373.  @robertwhite3059  And what does the UK have?
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  374.  @robertwhite3059  It has none, Robert. Zip.
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  375.  @robertwhite3059  You need to broaden your sources of information. Irish fishermen are bemoaning the loss of access to UK waters and with the quota for rest of 2021, but nobody else is. I notice also that British fishermen are 'moaning' the loss off access to EU markets, so no fishermen seem to be happy with the current situation. The Irish fishing sector is worth about as much to the Irish economy as the British fishing sector does to the UK economy. In Ireland, we are not distracted by such minor issues, unlike your own country.
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  376.  @robertwhite3059  You only left the EU 6 weeks ago, lets take a look at where the UK will be as a financial centre in a decade or so.
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  377.  @robertwhite3059  You can be quite sure the EU will be around in a decade, but we cannot say the same for the UK. In any case, will almost certainly not be around in 25 years from now, while the EU will probably have evolved into a two speed bloc.
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  378.  @robertwhite3059  Yes, but your news is from British sources, designed to shape your thinking - rather like propaganda. It keeps the sheep in order, and distracts from the calamity going on around them. It is very effective.
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  379.  @robertwhite3059  Sorry, what am I to watch in the EU Parliament that suggests anything? If watching a Parliament was indicative of any thing what would the House of Commons tell us?
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  380. Irish lorries have been paying UK road tax since 2014.
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  381.  @stephenm9799  And you should try to be accurate before judging others.
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  382.  @stephenm9799  Happy to be corrected...they pay a HGV Levy. So, not free of charge as you claimed.
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  383.  @stephenm9799  No. You said thw Irish hauliers were using UK roads free of charge and you were wrong.
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  384. @ 6th What British children were killed as a result of IRA activities which led to Independence for what is the Republic?
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  385. Perhaps if you stopped typing and used the organ between your ears you would realise that he is indeed representing the people of Ireland...at the EU. It was politician who actually fought in the Rising who filed Ireland's application to the EEC in 1962 - in the full knowledge and understanding that shared sovereignty was in Ireland's best interests. George, leave the history lessons and the political analysis to those who know what they are talking about.
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  386. haha brilliant.
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  387.  @terencefirth616  What politician are you quoting?
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  388.  @terencefirth616  I wonder whey you said 'I'm quoting your politicians'.
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  389.  @terencefirth616  Ireland has been 'hit' by nothing. What that the Irish Freedom Party have ignored - as you have done - is the other side of the balance sheet which is the value of EU membership in comparison to the value of going back to the Ireland of the 1950s which the Irish Freedom Party is seeking. It is the same ploy pulled by the UK print media and it is straight out of the UKIP play book. But it won't work, the UK is in decline and Ireland is not. Ireland is a richer country than the UK, per captia. Ireland is more democratic, has a more free press, a more globalised economy with a more productive workforce. Ireland has made a success of membership while the UK has made a pig's ear of it. The difference between Ireland and your country is that Irish people are secure in their identity and while the English are not - and the English call the shots in the UK. There is nothing for the IFP to exploit.
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  390. LMAO! British Eurosceptics has been saying that since the 1950s! LMAO!
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  391.  @mogznwaz  I think you are engaging in an argument nobody else is having. Have a lie down and try again later, its probably past you bedtime anyway..
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  392. Britain did NOT stand alone for 'first three years of WWII'. Where you idiots learn your history? The British empire stood alone WW2 for 13 months between May 1940 and June 1941 when the Soviets were attacked. This 'Britain stood alone' nonsense shows that gratitude is not in the English DNA.
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  393. @ John Mitchel Who said the EU is a sovereign independent country? Citizenship refers to the rights, privileges and duties of a citizen, in this case, the shared identity of membership of the EU, which we hold alongside our national identity and citizenship.
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  394. The border is about the people who live along it. The live on one side, perhaps work or go to school on the other. That land border runs through towns, farms, businesses, homes and even separates a church from its graveyard in one place. Infrastructure would not be tolerated by people on either side of the border. It is not the same as sea routes.
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  395.  I hate antifa I hate blm  Clearly, 27 EU countries fundamentally disagree.
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  396.  @Skinhead-201  Yeah, ya are. Tory bootlicker.
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  397.  @Skinhead-201  Of course you are. I understand your embarrassment though.
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  398. But most of them are in England.
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  399. It is hard to see how this is the case when support for EU membership is at 90% in Ireland, the highest in the bloc.
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  400. 'The Question is... WHY is the Irish government incapable of thinking for it self?' The Irish government IS 'thinking for itself'. The Irish government is following the will of the Irish people, rather than the will of an unelected elite in Westminster. Having the freedom to chose is one of the reasons Ireland became independent from the UK in the first place. 'If Britain is asking for no problems between the 2 countries and to hold on to the Good Friday agreement, then why the Irish government not tell the EU that at least on this issue (and many more frankly) that Ireland will make its own agreements.' Because unlike you and most people in England including your government, the Irish understand how the EU works. Ireland, under treaty with the EU, cannot make bi-lateral agreements with the third countries. Furthermore, Ireland sees its long-term strategic interest as a member of the EU rather than a backwater in the shadow of a United Kingdom that does not know its place in the world. 'Ireland has been trading with Britain long before the EU. This doesn't have to be a problem if Leo had any balls.' Ireland only really prospered once it began to trade other countries within the EU; EU membership meant Ireland could get preferential trade deals with third countries it could never dream of it was outside the EU.
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  401.  @mikaham681  The EU cannot walk away from Ireland, as Ireland IS the EU - every member IS the EU. It is not some separate overarching invisible entity - every member IS the EU. The fact is, the UK is weaker than Ireland because of brexit and that is why you ended up in this situation. The EU was ALWAYS going to back it member against a soon-to-be-outsider, no matter how big and important it thinks it is. That's just a plain fact.
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  402.  @mikaham681  Every member state IS the EU. It is not some separate body holding countries against their will. The EU is a group of small countries, half of them smaller than Ireland, ans while the British can only view international relations between countries in terms strong v weak, it is not how the EU is run. Ireland is comfortable with its membership in a way that you could never understand, with support for membership actually increasing since Brexit.
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  403.  @millhilljimjimmy6731  Smugglers will always smuggle.
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  404.  @obadiahspong2300  In terms of trade, Ireland will gradually move away from the UK - it already has done over the last 50 years. Brexit will continue the process.
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  405.  @drewwilliams6888  Its like the English have a phobia about being alone. When will they learn to stand on their own two feet?
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  406.  @paigeleaf4581  Great. How will you get British qualifications recognised in the EU starting in a few hours time?
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