Irish Senator "Very Concerned" About Boris Johnson's New Irish Border Brexit Plan
1 October 2019, 23:48 | Updated: 2 October 2019, 08:12
An Irish lawmaker from the party of Taioseach Leo Varadkar has told LBC that Boris Johnson's new plan for the Irish border after Brexit is "extremely disappointing and leaves a lot to be desired".
Neale Richmond, who is a Senator for the Fine Gael party and the chair of the Irish Senate's Brexit Committee, spoke to Tom Swarbrick after it was reported by the Daily Telegraph that the Prime Minister will propose a "two borders for four years" plan which would keep Northern Ireland in a unique trading relationship with the European Union until 2025.
Mr Richmond told Tom it was "worrying to hear" Boris Johnson down-playing the amount of trade which takes place between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland, adding that over 30,000 people in 14,000 vehicles cross the 499 km border every day.
Tom also asked the Senator about the British Government's claim that this is its "final offer" to the EU, but Mr Richmond replied to say that the Irish government has "always said consistently [that] we are prepared to listen to any decent offers from the British Government" which meet its Good Friday Agreement obligations.
However, he concluded that the reports outlined in Wednesday's edition of the Telegraph "are extremely disappointing and leave a lot to be desired" from the Irish Government's perspective.
