Speaking in Brussels on Thursday, the former Taoist leader said he was concerned that Northern Ireland was being drawn into a high-stakes political game that was not made. “Sometimes I wake up in a cold sweat worrying about how it’s going to work. I am concerned that Northern Ireland has been caught [in this UK-EU dispute],” he said. “I don’t want Northern Ireland to be part of the blame game for all of this.” Ahern was speaking at a Renew Europe roundtable discussion with MEPs and Northern Ireland Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) a day after it was revealed he and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair were helping outgoing Northern Ireland Secretary Conor Burns , to try to open new conversations. There is speculation in Whitehall that Liz Truss will trigger Article 16 of the protocol next week, ahead of a September 15 deadline to give a formal response to legal proceedings launched by the EU over the dispute. Q&A
What is Article 16?
projection Article 16 is a clause in the Northern Ireland Protocol, one of the key elements of the Withdrawal Agreement, which legally cemented the UK’s departure from the EU in January 2020. It allows each side to take measures or “safeguards” against the treaty , if the protocol leads to “serious economic, social or environmental difficulties likely to persist or a diversion of trade”. The party triggering it must demonstrate that the protocol has created “serious economic, social or environmental” hardship. The “safeguards” have not been legally defined but must be “appropriate” to the damage caused and are likely to include the semi-permanent suspension of checks on goods flowing from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. Invoking Article 16 would not immediately have a huge impact on the ground. This is because many of the controls have already been unilaterally suspended by the UK and the Article 16 process itself triggers a formal dispute process which requires the two sides to enter into talks to resolve the dispute. Lisa O’Carroll Brexit Correspondent Thanks for your response. This could allow the UK to suspend EU controls on goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain, but would worsen already strained relations. Even then, Ahern said he believed a deal was possible. “This is not rocket science. I personally think this is not an impossible thing,” he told an audience of cross-party Northern Ireland politicians in Brussels. He said he agreed with the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, that the controls on goods were “unfair” as they created a barrier to the UK’s internal market. But he said it was “equally unfair” to expect the EU not to protect its own single market. The prospect of an early resolution or return to talks faded on Wednesday after Liz Truss appointed Chris Heaton-Harris and Steve Baker, both Eurosceptics, as Northern Ireland secretary and foreign secretary respectively. EU members expect relations to deteriorate further in the coming weeks. The Biden administration sent Liz Truss a message on her second day in office, warning against “attempts to undo the Northern Ireland Protocol”. Ahern also criticized the British government, arguing that it was not approaching the talks with a view to reaching a deal. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. It was “not respectful or reasonable for the UK government” to reject the proposals put on the table by the European Commission last October as simply “not comprehensive enough”, he said. Ahern said another “big problem” was on the horizon with plans to introduce laws to allow the UK to scrap part of the protocol. If the laws currently going to the House of Lords were passed, he said, there would not be “a hope in hell” of a deal with the UK. “I’d be happy to eat my words, but where are the lines of compromise?” asked. He said it was “a hollow argument” for the UK to simply decide to “set aside” checks, but there were issues to be discussed, including replacing physical checks with electronic checks. “I don’t believe we’re talking about a boat out at sea and a fellow with a clipboard … but technologically all these goods are recorded so it should be possible to check them,” he said.
