Ireland says given no forewarning about triggering of Brexit clause
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Saturday
August 20, 2022

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 2022
Ireland says given no forewarning about triggering of Brexit clause

World+Biz

Reuters
30 January, 2021, 06:20 pm
Last modified: 30 January, 2021, 06:27 pm

Related News

  • Britain's Northern Ireland minister resigns
  • Germany and Ireland tell UK: No justification for breaking Brexit deal
  • Sinn Fein calls for united Ireland debate after historic election win
  • The Irish are rich in foreign investment
  • Irish MP lashes out at the "utter hypocrisy" in response to conflicts in Ukraine, Palestine

Ireland says given no forewarning about triggering of Brexit clause

The initial decision to use the Brexit clause - part of wider EU plans to control the exports of vaccines - illustrated how the carefully tuned Northern Ireland Brexit protocol can go awry, as well as showing the panic over vaccine availability

Reuters
30 January, 2021, 06:20 pm
Last modified: 30 January, 2021, 06:27 pm
FILE PHOTO: A 'No Hard Border' poster is seen below a road sign on the Irish side of the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland near Bridgend, Ireland October 16, 2019. REUTERS/Phil Noble/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A 'No Hard Border' poster is seen below a road sign on the Irish side of the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland near Bridgend, Ireland October 16, 2019. REUTERS/Phil Noble/File Photo

Ireland was not consulted by the European Commission before it briefly sought to restrict some exports of Covid-19 vaccines by invoking an emergency Brexit clause related to Northern Ireland, Ireland's European Affairs Minister said on Saturday.

The EU abruptly reversed the plan to use the Article 16 clause to restrict exports of Covid-19 vaccines from crossing the Irish border into the United Kingdom within a matter of hours on Friday after it sent shockwaves through Northern Ireland, London and Dublin.

The initial decision to use the Brexit clause - part of wider EU plans to control the exports of vaccines - illustrated how the carefully tuned Northern Ireland Brexit protocol can go awry, as well as showing the panic over vaccine availability.

"This type of provision is standard in trade agreements but in the Northern Ireland situation, it obviously has a different political resonance and it's perhaps the case that this wasn't fully appreciated by the drafters," Ireland's Europe Minister Thomas Byrne told Newstalk radio.

"Clearly a mistake was made," Byrne said. "It's too early for me to say (how it happened) ... It's clear the implications of Article 16 weren't fully thought through, that's a pity, but it's a lesson to us all at this point."

Asked if Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin was given any forewarning of the planned triggering of the provision, devised as a last resort to alleviate serious disruption to trade in Northern Ireland after Brexit, Byrne said he was not.

Three senior EU diplomats said member states were neither consulted on, or informed of, the Commission's decision.

"It seems the Commission took this decision unilaterally," an EU official said.

The official said it appeared the Commission's intention was to include Northern Ireland in the vaccines export control regime, but that this effectively created a land border on the island of Ireland, and it had to row back when it realised the implications.

Preserving the 1998 peace deal that ended three decades of sectarian bloodshed in Northern Ireland, without allowing the UK to become a back door into the EU's markets through the UK-Irish land border, led to the inclusion of the protocol in Britain's divorce deal.

The protocol achieved this by keeping Northern Ireland both in the EU's single market for goods, and the UK's customs territory, and "is not something to be tampered with lightly," Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney warned on Friday.

ireland / No forewarning / triggering / Brexit clause

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Stories beneath the trade data
    Stories beneath the trade data
  • India also will be ashamed of FM Momen’s statement: Quader
    India also will be ashamed of FM Momen’s statement: Quader
  • Logo of BNP
    BNP slams Momen for 'asking India to keep PM Hasina's govt in power'

MOST VIEWED

  • Ukrainian service members are seen at a position near a frontline, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Zaporizhzhia Region, Ukraine August 18, 2022. REUTERS/Dmytro Smolienko
    Explosions rock Russian-held areas far from Ukraine war front
  • Supporters of the Coordination Framework, a group of Shi'ite parties, gather during a sit-in, amid a political crisis, near the Green Zone, in Baghdad, Iraq August 13, 2022. REUTERS/Alaa al-Marjani
    As Iraqi protesters rally, political deadlock leaves families without cash
  • Test tubes labelled "Monkeypox virus positive" are seen in this illustration taken May 22, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
    EU backs changing monkeypox vaccine injection method to boost supply
  • FILE PHOTO - Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with acting Governor of Kirov region Alexander Sokolov via a video link at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia August 9, 2022. Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS
    Putin agreed to send IAEA mission to Ukraine plant, Macron's office says
  • Semiconductor chips are seen on a circuit board of a computer in this illustration picture taken February 25, 2022. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration
    Taiwan says it has not been informed of 'Chip 4' meeting
  • Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., November 18, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
    Nasdaq leads Wall Street lower as rate hike worries spark tech rout

Related News

  • Britain's Northern Ireland minister resigns
  • Germany and Ireland tell UK: No justification for breaking Brexit deal
  • Sinn Fein calls for united Ireland debate after historic election win
  • The Irish are rich in foreign investment
  • Irish MP lashes out at the "utter hypocrisy" in response to conflicts in Ukraine, Palestine

Features

Illustration: TBS

China-Bangladesh currency clearance agreement can increase trade by 'an unimaginable scale': Li Jiming, Ambassador of China

18h | Interviews
Postcrossing (which connects people through its website) is a system built for postcard enthusiasts, where anyone can sign up and create an account for free. Photo: Noor A Alam

Postcrossers: Reviving a lost art with strangers and postcards

17h | Panorama
We will be facing massive, recurring challenges in the coming years no matter what. Photo: Reuters

Holes in the recession story

1d | Panorama
Illustration: Bloomberg

What nonmonogamy can teach moonlighters and job jugglers

1d | Pursuit

More Videos from TBS

Amazing folding smartphone

Amazing folding smartphone

9h | Videos
How Russia gets advantage for geographical location?

How Russia gets advantage for geographical location?

11h | Videos
Is textbooks enough for students?

Is textbooks enough for students?

11h | Videos
134-year-old traditional sandwich of New York

134-year-old traditional sandwich of New York

16h | Videos

Most Read

1
From left Afzal Karim, Murshedul Kabir and Mohammad Jahangir
Banking

Sonali, Agrani and Rupali banks get new MDs

2
Russia now offers Bangladesh finished oil
Energy

Russia now offers Bangladesh finished oil

3
Photo: TBS
Bangladesh

5 crushed to death as BRT girder falls on car in Uttara

4
Photo: Collected
Economy

Bangladesh is not in a crisis situation: IMF

5
Migrant workers. Photo: UNB
Migration

Can Bangladesh benefit from Canada’s 10 lakh job vacancies?

6
Eight more banks make unusual gains from forex dealings
Banking

Eight more banks make unusual gains from forex dealings

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2022
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]