British-Irish Relations Now An "Almost Infantile Spat" Since Johnson Became PM: Mick Fealty
31 July 2019, 20:10 | Updated: 1 August 2019, 12:28
Mick Fealty explains how relations between London and Dublin have deteriorated since Boris Johnson has become prime minister.
The leader of Sinn Fein, Mary Lou McDonald has said an Irish reunification referendum should take place in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
LBC presenter Eddie Mair posed the likelihood of this to Mick Fealty, the editor of the website 'Slugger O'Toole' which covers British-Irish relations and politics.
"I think the chances of them getting it in the immediate aftermath of any Brexit deal, whether it's hard, soft, no-deal, good deal, is vanishingly small, but it's a great stick to get their political base up and running."
Power-sharing relations for the Northern Irish assembly collapsed in 2017 and have not recovered since, which led Eddie to ask if the region can ever be governed locally again.
Mr Fealty responded: "The whole Brexit period I think has been characterised by a lack of pluralism and more importantly, a lack of discipline," Mr Fealty said.
He continued: "What we have seen just carelessly happening between Dublin and London with Boris Johnson becoming Prime Minister has been almost an infantlie spat where the taoiseach welcomed it on twitter but didn't send the normal telegram that you would expect.
"There's been a falling away of the relationship between Dublin and London and that really speaks ill for the two governments that are in fact the co-guarantors of the Good Friday agreement.
"If the co-guarantors, the parents if you like, are refusing to get on and having hissy fits, playing this long-distance tennis game, I don't or anyone in Northern Ireland sees even a faint possibility of local self-government coming back any time soon."
Watch above.
