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Express.co.uk understands Ireland is drawing up the plans, as well as the possibility of new trade barriers. Leo Varadkar said: “The EU would have no option other than to introduce what we call rebalancing measures.
Mr Varadkar told broadcaster RTE: “We had a meeting yesterday of the Cabinet subcommittee on Brexit essentially to dust down and restart our contingency preparations should we get into difficulty. We’re making preparations.”
If Britain steps away from the Northern Ireland Protocol and its wider EU divorce deal, the EU “would have no option other than to introduce what we call rebalancing measures to respond”, Varadkar said.
Asked if the European Union could or should also consider suspending the post-Brexit trade deal, the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, Varadkar said it was something the EU commission “is going to have to consider”.
Varadkar said he hoped an escalation could be avoided.
He added: “Prime Minister Johnson always spoke about wanting Brexit done. Brexit is kind of done. But this potentially undoes it.
“I don’t think it would be good for us, for Great Britain, and I don’t see how it would be good for Northern Ireland.”
Mr Varadkar became a familiar figure in the years following the 2016 referendum, and was involved in several high-profile meetings with both Boris Johnson and predecessor Theresa May over the course of the next few years.
He stood down as Ireland’s leader last year as part of a coalition deal which saw him replaced by Micheal Martin, leader of the rival Fianna Fail party.
However, as things stand, he is likely to return to the top job in 2022.
Speaking on Tuesday, Mr Martin insisted it was not inevitable that the UK Government would trigger Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The Taoiseach urged Britain to consider the damage such a move would cause to its relationships with the EU and Ireland.
He explained: “I don’t think anything should be taken as inevitable in respect of the current talks on the protocol that are under way between the European Union and the United Kingdom Government.”
However, Mr Martin added: “Obviously, European Union/United Kingdom relations are very important over time and they should be a relationship that’s built on sustained trust, they should be constructive.”
(More to follow)
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