Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:-
“Now, the truth is seeping out.
“I have long said, in asking the key question of who would build a hard border, that the only threat of such came from the belligerence of the EU. Now, despite what Juncker said to the Dail, Brussels is admitting that they would be the main contractor.
“This is an indication that for all its grovelling the economic interests of Dublin are trumped by EU dogma which requires its frontier states to provide and maintain the EU’s borders. If this was what Coveney was talking about last week when he told Reuters Ireland would be applying for derogations, then, it looks like Brussels is as deaf to him as it is to Mrs May.
“So, far from it being the British it would be the EU, with the Republic of Ireland as its sub-contractor, who would build any border.
“The Republic should waken up to the fact that by overdoing its aggressive demands in the Brexit negotiations it has produced this situation and should even now back off the Backstop before it is too late and it becomes the partitioning Government of Ireland.”