Today marks an end and a beginning. Forty-seven years after both Ireland and the UK joined the European Economic Community, the latter has chosen to leave and to take a new path. It is a sombre day for some in the UK and a positive one for others. Whatever your perspective, it’s clear that the decision to leave the EU will bring change. In Ireland, we will always regret that our closest neighbour and partner will no longer sit with us and the other member states around the EU table in Brussels.
We still don’t have the full picture of the final terms of the UK’s future relationship with the EU, but we know it will not be the same. What’s clear to me, as it has been to successive Irish governments, is that Ireland’s bilateral relationship with the UK is, and will remain, of vital importance. It is based on deep ties of friendship and family, our common European heritage and values – ties that are deeply cherished.
Our two nations are so deeply intertwined as a result of generations of personal contacts and interaction. Some 700,000 people from the island of Ireland live in towns and cities the length and breadth of Great Britain. Several millions more are Irish citizens by descent. Tens of thousands travel back and forth between the UK and Ireland every single week, and the London-Dublin air corridor is the busiest in Europe, the second busiest in the world. The common travel area, which has long enabled profound connection between our countries, was last year protected through a memorandum of understanding between both governments. British and Irish citizens will continue to move freely to live, to study, to work in any corner of these islands. British citizens resident in Ireland will be free to vote in our upcoming general election – a reciprocal privilege afforded to Irish citizens in the UK.
These deep networks and this freedom of movement drive an economic and trading relationship between Ireland and the UK worth £1.1bn per week. Our desire to continue to foster such close ties will not change, although the level and intensity of this bilateral relationship will inevitably be shaped by future EU-UK arrangements. The closer the relationship between the EU and UK, the easier it will be to keep our two countries close.
An approach based on partnership was central to the restoration of the power-sharing executive and assembly in Northern Ireland last month. That kind of cooperation, enshrined at the heart of the Good Friday agreement, has developed gradually, over decades, and it was underpinned by our common EU membership. But even as the UK leaves the EU, protection of the Good Friday agreement remains a shared priority for both our governments, as was acknowledged in the withdrawal agreement.
As a co-guarantor of the Good Friday agreement, as a jurisdiction sharing the island of Ireland and as an EU member state, Ireland will play its part to ensure that the withdrawal agreement will work for the people of Ireland, north and south, for the UK and for the EU.
Preparations are of course now under way for the next phase of negotiations: the future relationship. Ireland will continue to pursue its interests vigorously in this phase. At the same time, we will advocate for an ambitious deal that works to the benefit of all. And while we will miss the UK, it will continue to be an important and natural partner for the EU.
We will find ways to work together to advance our shared ideals on the global stage. The joint political declaration underlines our common determination to protect the rules-based international order, the rule of law and democracy, high standards of free and fair trade and workers’ rights, and consumer and environmental protection, and to cooperate against internal and external threats to our values and interests.
While today will undoubtedly usher in change, some things will remain constant. The geography of these islands, our extraordinary people-to-people interaction, and our trade – these will all endure. The UK and Irish governments will remain steadfast partners in supporting peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland.
Our nations’ relationship is a vital one, of rare complexity and intensity. No matter what challenges lie ahead, Ireland is committed to firm friendship with the UK – our neighbour and partner in the peace process – both now and in the years to come.
• Simon Coveney is Ireland’s tánaiste (deputy prime minister), and foreign affairs minister
