Confidence between the EU and the UK has been “damaged”, while the British government’s actions pose a “serious risk” to the peace process

Trust between the EU and the UK has been damaged by the Internal Market Act, the Irish Justice Minister said.

The proposed changes to the EU Withdrawal Agreement around all-island trade are causing a lot of confusion, added Helen McEntee.

He called for the controversial aspects of the bill to be removed.

It comes after the Irish government said the UK’s actions pose a “serious risk” to the peace process on the island.

“What happened this week has certainly set us back,” McEntee said.

“This is an agreement that was reached, it was voted through the UK Parliament nine months ago, it was voted through the European Parliament nine months ago and now, this week, a part of the agreement has essentially unilaterally decided on its own to change elements of that agreement, so it raises some confusion, or a lot of confusion.

“I think it has somehow damaged the trust between both parties.”

She told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday program that legal action could occur due to breach of an international agreement.

“What I would like to see, and I think the Irish government and the European Union would like to see, is that these concrete measures, as set out in the internal market bill, are withdrawn and, most importantly, that we go back to the very important matter of implementing what has already been agreed in the Withdrawal Agreement. “

Meanwhile, the government has rejected claims that the EU could block goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK.

Simon Coveney said there may be “limited controls” on goods coming from Britain to the region because there is an agreement to avoid the need for physical infrastructure on the Irish border.

The measures were planned to stop the passage of goods from England, Scotland or Wales to the Republic of Ireland via Northern Ireland without tariffs if a broader agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom is not reached.

The Foreign Minister said: “No blockade is proposed.

“That’s the kind of inflammatory language that comes from the number 10, which is a twist and not the truth.”

Keeping the Irish border open has complicated negotiations on withdrawal from the EU.

In an inflammatory article for The Telegraph, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that Brussels was threatening to use an “extreme interpretation” of the Northern Ireland Protocol to impose “a large-scale trade border in the Irish Sea” that could stop the transportation of food from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

The government’s new UK internal market bill has immediately sparked controversy over its impact on talks with the EU and on international treaties.

It could rewrite parts of the Brexit withdrawal agreement related to all-Ireland trade provisions.

Coveney told the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show that a post-Brexit trade deal was still possible.

He said: “The British government is behaving in an extraordinary way and the British should know that, because outside of Britain the UK’s reputation as a reliable negotiating partner is being damaged.”

Today, the UK is part of the European Single Market, with regulations and standards jointly agreed upon across the continent.

After Brexit, the UK government wants to continue to have a joint market in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, known as the home market.

That means regulations on things like food standards and animal welfare are set in the UK instead of Brussels.

Northern Ireland was to remain part of the bloc for commercial purposes unless a broader trade agreement was reached with the EU.

That means Northern Ireland must continue to follow Brussels standards to avoid tariffs on all islands’ trade and keep the free-flow border of goods open with the Republic of Ireland, its EU neighbor.

The Irish government has said that the British government’s plans pose a “serious risk” to the peace process amid the acrimony in the negotiations.

Mr Coveney said: “Both the British and Irish economies will be significantly damaged and that will be a significant policy failure, nothing more.”

He added: “It is possible to reach an agreement, it will probably be a fairly thin basic agreement.”

The European Commission has given the UK until the end of the month to repeal legislation allowing ministers to override the provisions of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement relating to Northern Ireland.

After a stormy meeting in London on Thursday, the commission warned that the UK was putting trade negotiations at risk and said it would “not be shy” in taking legal action.

However, the Prime Minister’s official spokesperson reiterated the Government’s position that the provisions of the UK Internal Market Act remained “critical” to the preservation of the Northern Ireland peace process.

On Sunday, Taoiseach Micheal Martin spoke with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, who leads the EU heads of state.

Mr Martin said that the EU27 was united in calling for full implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement / Northern Ireland Protocol.

“Laws and international agreements must be respected.”