Irish EU spokesman hits out at David Davis over ‘completely inaccurate’ Sinn Féin comments
3 min read
Ireland’s EU spokesman has rounded on David Davis over his "inaccurate" claim that Dublin’s Fine Gael-led Government is being steered by Sinn Féin.
Senator Neale Richmond said the Brexit Secretary’s comments that his party's leadership was under “quite a strong influence” from the Republican hard-liners on the border issue suggested a wider naivety on Irish politics in Westminster.
“I wouldn’t have expected it from David Davis,” he told the website journal.ie.
“It shows that the average British MP doesn’t understand the nuances of the peace process. It’s very disappointing, completely inaccurate, and certainly not happening.”
It comes after The Times reported Mr Davis telling a conference in London that the change in Taoiseach from Enda Kenny to Leo Varadkar last June had allowed a “strong political role” for Sinn Féin in discussions about the border between the Republic and Northern Ireland.
“We had a change of government, south of the border, and with quite a strong influence from Sinn Féin, and that had an impact in terms of the approach,” he said.
When it was pointed out that it was merely the country's leader that had changed and not the government, Mr Davis added: “Well you had a change of leader or a change in Taoiseach.
“They’ve [Sinn Féin] been playing a strong political role which they haven’t done historically, that I hadn’t foreseen,” Mr Davis said.
He added that politics on the island had altered under Mr Varadkar and with the disappearance of the Northern Ireland Executive, both of which had in turn “slowed down” Brexit discussions.
The comments prompted Owen Smith, who was Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary until he was sacked last month, to brand Mr Davis' claims "utter rubbish".
The Irish government denied there was any change of approach between Mr Varadkar and his predecessor Mr Kenny.
“From the outset the Irish government has been clear that the UK’s decision to leave the EU presents significant challenges to the Good Friday agreement as the foundation of the Northern Ireland peace process,” a spokesman said.
“This position is unchanged since the time of the 2016 UK referendum on EU membership and is one which has cross-party support in Dáil Éireann.”
BARRY GARDINER
Mr Davis’ comments come after Barry Gardiner was forced to apologise for suggesting the Good Friday Agreement was now out of date.
The Shadow International Trade Secretary said a recording of him saying the peace deal, which was signed 20 years ago today, was a "shibboleth" had prompted a "misunderstanding".
His comments also sparked anger from Mr Richmond, who tweeted that Mr Gardiner's comments had been "highly irresponsible".
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