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20th Jul 2018

Varadkar threatens to block UK planes from Irish airspace

Rebecca O'Keeffe

Leo Varadkar

The Brexit talks continue.

One minute we’re not getting a hard border, and the next minute we are.

Jesus, it’s exhausting trying to keep up with these Brexit negotiations.

And the latest in the series of events? Leo Varadkar claims that a Brexit could result in a British ban from Irish airspace.

varadkar

The Taoiseach was speaking outside Derrynane House, the ancestral home of Daniel O’Connell, when he spoke about the issues.

“The situation at the moment is that the UK is part of the single European sky.

“If they leave the EU they are not, and that does mean if there was a no-deal hard Brexit next March, the planes would not fly and Britain would be an island in many ways.

“If they want their planes to fly over our skies, they would need to take that into account.”

According to The Mirror, Mr Varadkar continued, saying: “You can’t have your cake and eat it. You can’t take back your waters and then expect to take back other people’s sky.”

varadkar

He also added that: “The most important thing is we all work really hard to avoid a no-deal Brexit.

“I still think that’s very unlikely. In that nightmare scenario, the doomsday scenario if there is a no-deal Brexit, you have to do everything to prepare for it but in that nightmare it won’t just be about our commitments, it’ll be about the commitments of others.

“The UK has given a cast-iron guarantee there will be no hard border, and no physical infrastructure on the border – and we expect them to honour that in all scenarios.”

Airspace shut down…? Ryanair – not ideal for you hun.