Armed units of the Gardai are due to be assigned to border duties on a 24 hour round the clock basis.
This is the latest development in the government’s move to erect a hard border – on the Southern side. They dare not speak about this openly but there are growing signs that this is exactly what they are doing.
In January, Leo Varadkar said that in the event of a no deal Brexit there could be a need “for cameras, physical infrastructure, possibly a police presence, or an Army presence to back it up”.
But he quickly rolled back on this admission when People Before Profit TDs challenged him on plans for a hard border.
The truth is that both the British and the Irish governments are preparing to erect border posts. The PSNI are recruiting over 300 extra police to deal with Brexit and the Southern governments is deploying one third of new Garda recruits to the border area.
Both will claim that they never wanted a hard border but have ‘no choice’.
We need to stop these moves now.
People Before Profit have inserted an amendment into the omnibus legislation passing through the Dail to force the government to make a public declaration that it will not erect a border.
The plain truth is that the peace of this island is far more important than simply protecting EU rules on a single market.
