Varadkar’ statements came as a surprised to the Irish political establishment, which had believed previous assurances that there would be no hard border as a result of Brexit, and that the Good Friday Agreement would be honoured in all circumstances.
The Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of the Irish republic, Leo Varadkar has said that British soldiers could return to the border through Ireland in the event of a crash Brexit in March.
Varadkar also said that if that was the case, Britain would have to reach a new deal with the 26 County state in order to honour its obligations under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
Varadkar’ statements came as a surprised to the Irish political establishment, which had believed previous assurances that there would be no hard border as a result of Brexit, and that the Good Friday Agreement would be honoured in all circumstances.
Speaking in Davos, Switzerland, Varadkar said in a no-deal scenario, a hard border "would involve customs posts, it would involve people inuniform and it may involve the need, for example, for cameras, physical infrastructure, possibly a police presence or army presence to back it up".
Varadkar told Bloomberg TV the border at present is "totally open" but if things went "very wrong" it would "look like 20 years ago". It was the Dublin government's first time to realistically warn of the implications of Brexit for the Good Friday Agreement. The comments followed the development last week that British Army reserves are set to be deployed to Ireland.
Dublin officials later said the comments were an indicator of their "frustration" at the British government's failure to honour the 'backstop'. That mechanism, which had been previously agreed with Dublin and the EU as a means of preventing a hard border, is being reneged upon by British Prime Minister Theresa May.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the Taoiseach's comments were "reckless and irresponsible".
McDonald added: “They are totally contrary to previous assertions regarding the government's commitment to the backstop. The Taoiseach has consistently ruled out a border poll on Irish unity. Today he paints a doomsday scenario of a return of soldiers to the border in the event of a no deal Brexit. If that is the case then the only way to prevent such a scenario is by affording the Irish people their say in the form of a border poll on Irish unity.”
