Mary Lou McDonald on How Brexit Will Impact Ireland

MARY LOU MCDONALD, LEADER, SINN FEIN: Thank you, Christiane.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Look, we’ve talked before about this situation as it’s been unfolding and here we are in another week which is getting to crunch time, if we can define crunch time these days, and your nation, Ireland, is at the heart of all this. I sort of asked, is this an intractable problem or do you see any way that this Theresa May deal can actually work?

MCDONALD: Well, you’re right to say that we are now in very much the end game or crunch time or whatever you may wish to call it. We’re at the point where Britain has to make its mind up, they have to decide if they, in fact, want to deal, they have to understand that the case of Ireland is unanswerable. Ireland — the north of Ireland is not like other parts across Britain. We have a very unique set of circumstances. It was always the case. Therefore, that a set of unique bespoke solutions, which have to be offered for our Ireland to protect our economy, our trade, our citizens, our rights and crucially, our peace process. So, this has been a very long drawn out process, it’s been marked by recklessness on the part of the Tory government, in my view, it has been marked by a very, very dangerous high wire strategy adopted by Theresa May with the encouragement of hardline Brexiteers, and that is to sit this out and hope that somebody somewhere might blink and that they might get some leverage, but that hasn’t happened. What’s been asked —

AMANPOUR: Right. Mary Lou McDonald —

MCDONALD: — for Ireland is very basic, very basic protections.

AMANPOUR: Yes. Look, you just saw the video, at least we all did of Theresa May in parliament. She has got almost lost her voice again and she’s working around the clock to try to get a deal so that Britain does not crash out. But I want to ask you something that analysts and people on both sides of the — well, in both parts of Ireland have been worried about, and that is that this hard boarder this and whatever might come with it could, you know, be a little bit of a tinderbox and bring back the violence that we thought had been consigned to the dustbin of history. Four explosive devices were left in various parts around London just this weekend and a group calling itself, you know, Splinter IRA with the right code words called in to let the police know, you know, and defuse them. That seems to me not a coincidence. Is that a worrying development in your view? Is that a message that’s being sent or just opportunism at this time?