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Ireland will not become “collateral damage” from Brexit, Foreign Minister Simon Coveney warned, launching a series of engagements in Washington DC on Tuesday.
In a discussion with the Aspen Institute, Coveney said the recent intervention by leading American figures in the Brexit debate was “a reminder that the United States regards the Irish peace process as one of the success stories of American foreign policy. in the last three or four years. ” decades. “
“We would not have had peace in Ireland had it not been for the United States in terms of interventions, support, encouragement and continued participation. . . in politics in Northern Ireland and indeed in the Republic of Ireland. “
He said that several American political figures had intervened with the British government at times to say: “We respect your decision on Brexit, but we also hope you will abide by the Good Friday Agreement.”
The message from the United States that a trade agreement between the United Kingdom and the United States would not come about if the Irish peace process is undermined had “landed in Westminster,” he said at the forum. “It has made a lot of people feel quite uncomfortable. It has resulted in British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab coming to Washington in recent weeks to try to explain the British government’s approach. “
“We are friends of Great Britain, as is the United States. We have a special relationship with the UK. It is complicated, sometimes tragic, but it is very special and very close, ”he said. “We want to work with Britain to solve these problems, but we will not allow Ireland and relations on the island of Ireland to be collateral damage.”
Irish unit
Mr. Coveney also rejected the prospect of a Border poll in the near future, appealing to Irish-America to support the Irish government’s efforts to “solve one problem at a time.”
Responding to a question about Irish unity, he criticized those who combine the Irish issue with Brexit.
“I think that this argument is wrong and has made it very difficult to find solutions to the challenges of Brexit. We have a solution for Brexit. It’s in Irish protocol. . . I am a constitutional nationalist. I would like to see the unification of Ireland in the future, but I also recognize that there is a process that we all must follow, of tranquility, of building bridges to reach out to communities that may see themselves as very vulnerable to that change. “
“It is important to solve one problem at a time,” he added.
Speaking about the future of the European Union, Mr Coveney said that he would like the EU to be “more assertive and clearer in terms of global and international messages”, adding that it is “regrettable that the EU and the US Take a different approach to many foreign policy problems in recent years. “
US foreign policy in recent years has focused on “transactional diplomacy and bilateralism” in relation to foreign policy, he said, adding that the United States’ absence from international bodies “allows other powerful actors to world level fill that void. “
“We want to see a US presence in all these multinational forums,” Coveney said, outlining Ireland’s priorities when taking a seat on the UN Security Council in January.
Meetings
Coveney spoke before key meetings at the White House and on Capitol Hill.
He will meet with National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien, where Ireland’s role as the headquarters of many technology companies and issues around data privacy are expected to be discussed.
Later on Tuesday, Mr. Coveney will participate in an event organized by Georgetown University that will highlight Ireland’s ties to Frederick Douglass, the abolitionist who visited Ireland 175 years ago.
On Wednesday he will meet with leading Republican and Democratic figures, including Senator Chris Murphy, Congressman Richard Neal, who is chairing the Friends of Ireland caucus.
Pelosi warned Britain earlier this month that Congress will not ratify a trade deal with the UK if the Good Friday Agreement is undermined.
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