Letters | 29 November 2018

The Irish border

Sir: Contrary to the assertion that the Irish border ‘only hit the headlines’ after Leo Varadkar became Taoiseach in June 2017, as Liam Halligan claims (‘Irish troubles’, 24 November), the negative impact of Brexit on the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement was clearly signalled during the referendum campaign itself, including by the Irish government and by two former British prime ministers, Sir John Major and Tony Blair.

There was no discontinuity in policy when Leo Varadkar succeeded Enda Kenny as Taoiseach, as reflected in the latter’s statement in February 2017. ‘The Irish government will oppose a hard border… This is a political matter, not a legal or technical matter. It will have to be solved by political leadership.’

Mr Halligan repeats the claim by selected experts — who are not familiar with the specifics of the Irish border — that existing technology and administrative facilitation can remove the need for any border infrastructure or controls. Yet neither the UK government nor any Parliamentary Committee at Westminster that have examined this issue have endorsed such views.

Finally, Mr Halligan asserts that the withdrawal agreement changes the constitutional status of Northern Ireland without its consent. He clearly has not read Article 1 of the relevant protocol in the withdrawal agreement which states that it is ‘without prejudice to the provisions of the 1998 [Good Friday] Agreement regarding the constitutional status of Northern Ireland and the principle of consent’.
Adrian O’Neill

Irish ambassador to the UK, London SW1

Daft projects

Sir: Referring to Jeff Bezos’s philanthropy (Any other business, 17 November), Martin Vander Weyer wonders how many more people might be helped by Mr Bezos were he to pay more in taxation. The answer, of course, is none. Any money raised would be soon squandered on daft projects such as bailing out the banks, HS2, aircraft carriers with no aircraft, gifts to Brussels and so on — the list is endless.