Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald TD has described Boris Johnson’s revised Brexit proposals as “reckless and dangerous”.

Teachta McDonald said:

“What Boris Johnson has presented to the European Commission as a ‘workable alternative’ to the Backstop today amounts to a very dangerous, reckless proposition that plays fast and loose with the Good Friday Agreement.

“What we need on our island – north and south – is to ensure that there is no hard border, that our all-island economy is protected and that the Good Friday Agreement is defended. There is cross-community, cross-party political consensus on this matter across Ireland; with the exception of the DUP.
 
“It is ironic that Boris Johnson would depict his proposal as giving ‘renewable democratic consent’, given that no part of Ireland has consented to Brexit – the people of the north voted to remain.

“We have said all along that the Backstop – or any alternative to the Backstop – cannot be time limited in any way, yet this is what Boris Johnson now proposes.

“The proposal to give the Assembly the authority to decide either the type of arrangements that are put in place, or how long they will last, will afford the DUP a veto through abuse of the Petition of Concern procedure.

“Using the Petition of Concern or any other means of giving Unionism a veto is entirely unacceptable and is an abuse of the Good Friday Agreement. Sinn Féin will never agree to this.

“Any arrangement that can be vetoed, blocked, stalled or stymied by the DUP is a non-runner, and it is clear that the British government is playing fast and loose with the Good Friday Agreement.

“It is now urgent that the EU and the Irish government make it absolutely clear that Boris Johnson’s proposals are neither viable nor acceptable.”