Irish Government must be ‘on top of their game’ in dealing with new British Prime Minister on Good Friday Agreement and Brexit

THE incoming British Prime Minister’s on-the-record public opposition to human rights conventions that are a cornerstone of the Good Friday Agreement and this means that the Taoiseach and the Irish Government collectively “must be on top of their game” in defending the rights of Irish citizens in the North, Gerry Adams TD said at Leinster House on Tuesday.

Theresa May, now the new leader of Britain’s governing Conservative Party, is scheduled to succeed David Cameron as Prime Minister on Wednesday afternoon.

The Sinn Féin leader was speaking the day after Theresa May won the Tory leadership campaign when her only remaining challenger, Andrea Leadsom, withdrew from the race in a shock move, cutting short a contest that was due to continue for several weeks more.

“Theresa May and the Tory Party generally are against the European Convention on Human Rights, a cornerstone of the Good Friday Agreement,” Gerry Adams said. “Any attempt to tamper with that is bad. That is why I say the Taoiseach will need to be on his game and why the Irish Government would need to fully embrace their responsibility as co-equal guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement.”

The Louth deputy said there are two legs to the political challenge facing the Irish Government.

“One is the primacy of the Good Friday Agreement and the broad political and peace processes, and the second the social and economic consequences of Brexit.

“We need in the first case to make sure that the imperative of the Good Friday Agreement prevails, and in the second case to minimise the potential negative consequences of the exit of one part of this island from the European Union while the other part stays.”