The EU is on a collision course with Britain on Brexit, An Tánaiste Simon Coveney has said.

He is worried about where Brexit is going, he told the Guild of Agricultural Journalists Michael Dillon Memorial Lecture, supported by Kerry Group, last week.

“Prime Minister Johnson has put a cabinet together, which is really about ensuring there is no dissent on the Brexit question.

“What David Frost, his negotiator, has outlined this week simply is not consistent with getting the kind of deal that the EU is planning for done by the end of the year. I don’t want to be a prophet of doom here, but this is going to get a lot worse before it gets better, if it gets better,” he said.

Checks on goods

“Let nobody say that the withdrawal agreement doesn’t confirm there needs to be some checking system on goods coming from Britain into Northern Ireland, because they can find their way into the EU market and therefore the assumption is that that’s where they’re going to end up.

“To essentially make the case that there would be no checks on goods between Britain and Northern Ireland, just like there’d be no checks on goods between Northern Ireland and Britain, is simply factually incorrect,” he said.

Trade deal

The idea of the EU having a comprehensive trade deal across all sectors by the end of the year is “simply unachievable”, Coveney said, adding that a deal on fishing will be crucial. “We’ll need to have a deal on fishing, because I don’t think there’ll be a trade deal if we don’t.

“The politics of fishing is so strong that there will need to be a deal on fishing in parallel with a trade deal. I think we’ll probably have to get a deal on data also. Then after that it would be a basic trade deal on goods.”