Stephen Collins: Soft Brexit looking more likely
Trying to use Border to block progress on wider issues would have risked own goal
“‘Ireland can count on us – and that isn’t based on any other conditions,’ German chancellor Angela Merkel said after meeting Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and it would be hard to devise a more unambiguous message of support.” Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
The prospects for a soft Brexit have improved significantly as a result of the deal struck this week between the British government and the European Commission opening the way for substantive talks on future trade arrangements.
That is good news for Ireland, North and South, and could ultimately make all the agonising of the past 18 months over the prospect of a hard border seem like a bad dream.