Tag: Republic of Ireland

I’m seriously confused (Danni, US) Brexit is the process of the UK leaving the EU, which it narrowly voted in favour of in a referendum in June 2016. The process is governed by article 50 of the EU’s Treaty of Lisbon and is happening in two stages: first, the two sides negotiate their divorce deal (the “withdrawal agreement”), and after this they will sort out their future trading relationship. In theory, the post-Brexit trading arrangements between the EU and the UK will avoid a “hard” border, but they could take years to negotiate so the EU has insisted on a “backstop” guaranteeing the absence of a hard border until those arrangements are in place. The backstop leaves the whole of the UK in a customs union with the EU “unless and until” the EU agrees it can leave. Brexiters do not like this at all. This now looks quite likely, but it may only last for a few months because a new European parliament is sworn in in July and EU rules require all member states to be represented – a problem if the UK is still a member. Why does Jeremy Corbyn think he can negotiate a different or better deal with the EU than Theresa May? Other than that, hardly any of the 68 trade deals from which the UK benefits as an EU member, and which it said it would have replicated by the time of departure, are near, and none will be ready by 29 March, according to the FT. Brexiters talk about “trading on WTO terms” as if it is what the world does, but it does not: it may trade under WTO rules, but all 164 members of the WTO have also agreed bilateral or regional trade deals that allow them to trade on much better terms than the WTO baselines. No sensible nation would leave the world’s largest single market, the EU, to trade with it on WTO terms, as would happen in the event of no deal. (Remo Casale, New Zealand; Georg Beck, Germany) In order: By the British government softening its red lines to allow it to arrive at a form of Brexit that is acceptable to both the EU27 and the UK parliament – something it should have done a long time ago – or, possibly, by holding a second referendum.

The Democratic Unionist party (DUP) has rejected any regulatory divergence between Northern Ireland and Britain in the Brexit deal, but there is already some divergence – and it will help keep the lights on, and the food safe, at the party’s annual conference on Saturday. Northern Ireland gets its electricity and trades its livestock in ways which distinguish it from mainland Britain and which have nothing to do with Brexit. Hard, soft or no Brexit, Britain must begin to heal its wounds | Martin Kettle Read more Northern Ireland is part of a single electricity market with the Republic of Ireland, it applies extensive checks on livestock coming from Britain and has distinct rules on the transport of hazardous waste – pragmatic, uncontroversial measures which are not deemed threats to Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom. However, DUP leaders who gather in Belfast for the party’s conference will thunder anew against different rules for Northern Ireland and Britain envisaged in the Brexit deal, branding them an existential threat to the union and therefore reason for the party to issue its own threat to pull the plug on Theresa May’s government. The former foreign secretary Boris Johnson is expected to amplify that warning in an address to about 600 party faithful. Sammy Wilson, one of 10 DUP MPs who shore up the Westminster government under a fraying confidence and supply agreement, branded the leaders of the business and farming groups as “puppets” of Downing Street. “If you see divergence between GB and Northern Ireland, it would only be in those areas where it would make sense for Northern Ireland to be aligned with the EU,” she said. “It won’t be the case that a whole raft of EU law is dumped on Northern Ireland. “There cannot be a border down the Irish Sea, a differential between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK,” the party leader, Arlene Foster, told the BBC last month. Blanket opposition to any new regulatory divergence has shredded the DUP’s relationship with May, endangered its pact with her government and alienated traditional business and farming allies.

The European council president, Donald Tusk, told May last month that he needed to see “maximum progress” by this week’s European council meeting of leaders on the issue of avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland. A Brexit summit to finalise the terms of the political declaration on a future trade relationship has been pencilled in for the weekend of 17-18 November, in the event the negotiating teams find a compromise position on avoiding a hard border. EU sources said they had expected the summit to be a sombre ceremonial event. In response to concerns over May’s ability to hold her government together and push through a deal, however, the EU is now planning an alternative use for the November summit should it be required. The bloc’s deputy chief negotiator, Sabine Weyand, had told EU ambassadors gathering in Luxembourg on Friday that talks were progressing well, and that results might be made public as early as Monday. A leaked EU planning document, obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, noted: “Deal made, nothing made public (in theory).” May’s volatile domestic situation remains the greatest risk to a deal. A senior EU diplomat said: “Preparations on contingency are really advancing in almost all member states. We’re going to do this anyhow whatever the outcome because even if there’s a positive outcome [this week] we’ll still need to continue preparedness and contingency because we can never exclude the possibility that negotiations will break down at a later stage”, the same source said. The EU has proposed that if a trade deal or bespoke technological solution was not at hand by the end of the transition period, Northern Ireland would in effect stay in the single market and customs union as the rest of the UK withdraws. She is instead proposing a temporary EU-UK customs union, and for Northern Ireland to stay in the single market, should that be agreed at a later date by Stormont.

But this is not just an important moment in abortion rights. Until now the public image of pro-choice politics has been heavily influenced by 1970s “women’s liberation” movements in the US and the UK (also known as Second Wave feminism). This group did not just look at abortion or sexual liberation. ‘Intersectional’ feminism Ireland’s Repeal movement and Argentina’s Ní Una Menos are not just feminist campaigns, they are intersectional feminist campaigns. Social justice activism must include all voices and injustices or it is not socially just. By adopting an intersectional approach, the current global pro-choice discussion uses individual rights to start a conversation on collective experiences which are linked to, but not solely about, abortion rights. Transforming politics The most obvious example of how pro-choice feminist movements are transforming what it means to “do politics” is found in their use of social media. Public demonstrations and protests have been marked by mass arrests and protests positioned as less effective than engagement in politics through other means. Global pro-choice movements are now showing that broad-based, social justice oriented movements that mobilise online and engage in spectacles and protests are effective. They prove that disruption (whether through mass coordinated protests or small spectacular actions) is an important political tactic.

But a new dynasty, born this week, is set to be a first for Irish politics. Her sister Mary Newman has been added to the party's ticket in Tipperary, alongside Garret Ahearn. And for Mary it will be no easy feat. Mary, a vet who now works in a large multinational firm, believes both her business experience and her farming know-how means she can bring a keen mix to the table. "Politics is about timing and opportunity. The running mates will sit down to discuss a strategy in the coming days. But no woman in any job wants to be seen as a 'token' and the siblings are understandably no different. "I've never achieved anything in life by being a woman - apart from having four kids. That was the last time I played the gender card," she said. She said: "There is no woman in Fine Gael lying around doing nothing."