Diplomatic and political preparations for UK and the European Union negotiations on the British exit will be stepped up in the coming weeks as the Government seeks to press the case for the North’s special status with other EU governments.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny is travelling to Berlin next week for a meeting with German chancellor Angela Merkel, while French president François Hollande will be in Dublin for talks the following week.
Next Tuesday, Italian foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni will also travel to Dublin for talks with Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan.
Minister for Finance Michael Noonan will be in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday for meetings with the eurogroup ministers, and also for the regular Ecofin, the wider group of all EU finance ministers.
“We’re meeting as many people as we can,” said one person familiar with the Government’s plans. “In the game of high politics, personal relationships are crucial.”
Official sources say Ireland will be outlining the need to protect Northern Ireland peace process through recognising the special status of the North- South relationship in all of these talks. This may be the precursor to a bid for special arrangements in any future UK- EU treaty.
Ireland's two most important relationships are with the United Kingdom and the EU; navigating the new landscape, where they are diverging, will be immensely complicated, say official sources.
“Our position is that we want to stay friends with everyone – even if they’re not that friendly with one another,” said one high-ranking senior source, who like others spoke on condition of anonymity.
Intensified efforts
Diplomatic efforts have been intensified in the weeks since the British referendum, and it is expected that embassies in Brussels, Berlin, Paris and Rome will be beefed up in the autumn.
Senior sources are reasonably happy that Ireland’s message about its special position has been received and accepted by other member states.
Mr Kenny has told his fellow heads of Government that Ireland’s priority is maintaining the success of the peace process, and that this requires special attention be given to North-South relations. One of the things this means in practice is the maintenance of the common travel area between Ireland the UK, which renders the Border all but invisible.
Yesterday, Mr Flanagan was in Berlin to meet his German opposite number, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Mr Flanagan said he is confident Berlin understands the sensitivity of Ireland’s unique relationship with Britain, in particular Northern Ireland Border concerns.
“I detect a knowledge and an appreciation of our unique status, and this will form part of the negotiations,” said Mr Flanagan. He was optimistic the wider EU could play as constructive a role in redefining Ireland’s new relationship to Britain as it was during the years of bedding down the peace process.
Political solutions
“There were numerous instances over the years where it wasn’t possible to reach political solutions on very complex issues without the arena or the atmosphere of the European Union.”
In bilateral talks, Mr Flanagan underlined that Ireland would remain “fully at the heart of Europe” and that the EU had been the “foundation stone” of Ireland’s recent economic recovery. He said it was important a new British government be given time to find its feet, but that negotiations could not turn into a “free for all”.
