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LOUTH TD PETER Fitzpatrick has suggested that the army should be deployed along the border to prevent people from Northern Ireland travelling south.
The Independent TD says it is “unreal” the number of Northern registered cars he has seen in his constituency and that “I don’t like it”.
Fitzpatrick was speaking in the context of the impending expiration of the four-week ‘circuit-breaker’ lockdown in Northern Ireland that has seen pubs and restaurants closed fo
Speaking to Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, he said he fears this would see an increased amount of cross-border movement.
“As an ex 27th Battalion soldier myself, I think it’s about time that we started using the army. You see what’s happening in Dundalk we have a barracks in Dundalk where we have 450 soldiers there. Why not deploy them along the border area?
Louth, Meath and Monaghan have done a fantastic job over the last three or four weeks. Are we just going to flush it down the toilet? I think we have to be realistic. I, for one, want to see united Ireland, my first priority is that the citizens of Ireland are protected. Your government has to protect us.
Fitzpatrick says that cross-border travel is “being abused” and that “the number of northern registered cars you see is unreal”.
In response, Vardakar said that the government “isn’t giving any consideration” to putting the army on the border.
“We struggled and fought too hard for too many decades to take all armies off the border and we certainly don’t want to be the jurisdiction that puts uniforms on the border again,” he said.
Despite this, Varadkar says the question is “a serious one” and that the Covid-19 situation in Northern Ireland is “much worse than here”.
Specifically, he said the incidence of Covid-19 in Northern Ireland was three times higher and the death rate was four times as high.
He says the 5km rule is in place in border counties but that it’s best enforced by gardaí “and not by military means.”
The Tánaiste also responded to queries from the Social Democrats’ TD Róisín Shortall and said that it was “too soon” for people to be booking flights home to Ireland for Christmas.
Varadkar said that north-south travel at the moment is a “higher risk” than travel from overseas.
“Ireland is an island but we’re not an island state. There are two jurisdictions on this island and we’re never going to close the border between north and south,” he said.
Using the military on the border would be politically suicidal. There is not one country in the EU that is using its military on the border with another EU country to keep its citizens out.
Would be more a job for border guards or the police.
Did it not take decades to get rid of the British army along the border and this guy is proposing putting the Irish army back on the border. Just what powers would the soldiers have to stop anybody?
@George Vladisavljevic: perfect evaluation ,and you aren’t pulling 200k of taxpayers money,jesus the plebs we put into that Daíl….
@George Vladisavljevic: literally no powers. Stopping people comes under civil remit under which the army has no authority. We would have to have a referendum on it.
@Brian Ó Dálaigh: Not a good idea. It does not require any referendum. Just a Dail vote.
@George Vladisavljevic: the uk is no longer a part of the EU. Remember that big referendum they had a few years back ?
@George Vladisajvljevic: They don’t seem worried about political suicide. Between this guy Blythely suggesting restarting the troubles and that “let’s cancel Christmas” fellah they obviously don’t care about PR. Time to remind them who pays them.
@Cormac: Thank you for that Cormac, I think that I have heard something about that.
We are in the EU and no other EU country is using its military actively on its borders except perhaps countries such as Greece in an attempt to control the flow of refugees.
Switzerland too is not in the EU and France, Germany, Italy, for example, do not have their armies on the borders controlling the flow of Swiss watches and chocolates.
Imagine imposing a hard border after screaming and shouting for four years about how a Brexit imposed hard border would be catastrophic for peace on the island. Why do we keep electing these eejits.
@David Law: It’s actually wreaking my head.
Another Dáil circus performer trying to look relevant
It’s actually quite alarming that a TD could be this clueless. One must also note that people in the North can also work in the South
Maybe shouldn’t have backed Varadkar in vote of no confidence.
@David Connell: zero relevance
He’s not wrong, it’s not a coincidence that the border counties have the highest rate
@justinoc: Hello. Have you actually checked Louths rate lately? It seems not.
@Unitedpeople: 3rd highest yesterday son, you think it’s ok for nordies to travel freely around the country?
@justinoc: gone the other way with crowds from the south heading north to shop. its what’s causing the problem in donegal ,the east of the county are all heading across because the shops are open.
northern cars arent coming down for anything apart from work
@justinoc: stop calling people nordies its rude and uncalled for, very insulting.
@justinoc: Correct – third highest, not the highest as you quoted. If we stick to truth, other will have less to undermine you min good points, is ALL I am saying.
Is it good that we have others coming down and infecting us? No – but then our government has not stated how many of the South people have gone up North and done same. All the best. I mean that.
build a wall mabey
@frank_1916: Trump
This is a joke! Plenty of people living on both sides of the border have to cross it every day for work!
@Seán O’Loughlin: not ifvtiur going into & out if the worst Covid19 area there isn’t You stay at home.
I live close to the M1 and take it every weekday. There have always been plenty of NI reg cars but they don’t seem to have reduced in number while ours have, so they are much more noticeable now. Some may have a legitimate reason to be here but it seems they just aren’t restricting themselves as much.
@dearg doom: those living in the north but working in the south aren’t eligible for PUP so that don’t have much choice but to keep attending their place of work if required.
If it’s being abused then yes deploy the army to help the Gardai.
@die Fussballmeister: It can’t be abused when there is no law to say it’s illegal. People from NI are free to travel in and out of the 26 counties, just as are those from the 26 counties free to travel in and out of NI.
@die Fussballmeister: absolutely not
Go to get the motorway exits 17 and 18 and the amount of northern reg cars parked on hard shoulders is unreal, they then cram into vans, travel south, work, travel back north and then head home probably not realizing they are spreading illness and to top it off, the Garda have a daily checkpoint up the road everyday. Why not stop the daily congregation of these people
@Garreth mc mahon: because they’re working. You can’t strip them of their work without supporting them.
@Garreth mc mahon: Government and Council contracts
@Brendan M: point is that they are parked illegally and not using a safe mode of transport which is a high risk of cross contamination. I’d never dream of stopping people going to work but this isn’t a safe way to do so
@Brendan M: yes we can : they’re in another country.
@John Moylan: no they are not
Out of touch, out of date and hopefully at next election, out of job.
It’s hard to believe that anyone living in the Republic of Ireland along the border would propose or support a military presence on either side, let alone someone that served in the Defence forces.
Any border military presence for any reason, is the slippery slope back to the troubles once again and would serve only as a focal point and rallying cry for those on both sides that would happily turn back the clock.
Peter, you are meaning well but you should have a walk in your town. Many of the yellow registrations are standing in front of the houses since years.
Taxes and insurance are cheaper in the North.
Politely speaking Peter Fitzpatrick will you ever go away and read a book or something.
I can remember when a good politician had to be 75 percent ability and
25 percent actor, but I can well see in your case the reverse could be
true.
@Dónal Ó Keeffe: he just needed to manage a team to get robbed by meath
Who elected this knob?? Lol . A hard border.. lol. Just what we need now after telling the EU and U.K. it would be fatal to the GFA.
The guards can’t even issue on the spot fines so whats the army going to do?
Ex Blueshirter buleshirting
Who voted for him, Enda Kenny and the ATM’s
If only there was a United Ireland, the DUP would be irrelevant.
@John Dublin: If only Churchill had been a Kerry man…
Total muppet. That would look wonderful. Hard border.
Great idea the job SFDUP in NI is shocking. Dont think the army is the answer but Garda check points on all major road is the least we should expect
A hard border, aye Peter that will work just fine..
All the trouble and outrage concerning a hard border and that he wants to put the army on the border . Sweet Jesus
@Donal Desmond: you would think that the people along the border would have a little consideration for the rest of the country. While the rest of us are locked within our 5 kms this shower travel willy nily into another country.
@Donal Desmond:
The hard border was about lorries stopping and taxes to be paid. Nothing to do with Covod
Garda and army are to deter non essential travel, The soldiers are not armed.
Less hysteria – people try to make it sound like a military takover with ‘progressives’ in comcentration camps
@Chris Mc: A certain section had no consideration when it came to playing golf.
@John Lynch: Troops on the border is the last thing we need. Unfortunately people cross county bounds every day…do you suggest troops are to be put on the borders of each county in Ireland.
why not change their job description and uniform in the civil roll as covid civil patrol unarmed but enough legal back up to be able instill the 5km rules here, that would stop alot of unnecessary cross border journeys
And as your a Ex Soldier what powers would you give the Defence Forces..
As you should be aware its only Aid to Civil power which requires a Garda to be present..
Your only talking out of your .
Not allowed to finish as it is deemed as toxic lol
Why is a sitting td not writing a bill in order to deal with this situation instead of announcing unplanned, uneducated comments. Why be a legislator that does not legislate!
Theres no law at present that people are breaking, also more are travelling north due to retail being open up there.
Give him his gun and send him up there alone. Laughing stock of the whole world.
Works both ways. A lot of southern regs in Belfast.
He doesn’t like all the yellow regs? Ah the poor fella, well we don’t like having a border on the island, his time would be better spent campaigning for a united Ireland.
WHO IS HE????????
Now that the Donald has more time maybe he could build a wall
Right idea. But no army thank you. Another form of policing would be more acceptable to anybody who is worried about importing the virus. No doubt NI is a dangerous basket case and we cant just ignore this
He didn’t spend much time on the border when he was in the Army.
Given NI’s inability to deal with the coronavirus we should have shut the border weeks ago.
Clueless
Try working in Intel more English and northern men here every week
Finland have their Home Guard they army reserve patrolling their border with Sweden and are checking temps and non essential travellers are not allowed into the country. Finland yesterday was the only country in Europe of a reasonable size to have less new cases than us.
Think health and not politics here. As expecting the NI executive to do so is a wate of time
The army idea is dumb but something must be done, just what is the big question.
The NI builders is an old trick and is another argument completely
Awful not to display intelligence for the sake of populism…..
After a full two years of everyone freaking out about the possibility of a Brexit induced hard border:
“Hey lads things can hardly get worse… Let’s start a civil war while we’re at it.”
I’m struggling a little with the idea that we voted for, and are paying hundreds of thousands of euro to someone who would suggest something this idiotic. Between this guy and the “Lets cancel Christmas” PR genius. I’m starting to wonder what went wrong.
I would very much like a general election right now but I cant imagine things actually improving at this point. It’s weird that after the terrible year its been this is the first time I’ve felt really depressed.
Don’t worry. It won’t happen. Govt closed border barracks and subsequent governments have gutted the defence forces, we have almost half the available soldiers that we had at the height of the troubles. We had 15,000 in the defence forces and over 12,000 reserves, today we have 8,000 fulltime soldiers , sailors and air crew (supposed to be 9,500) and just over 1,100 reserves.
Even back then we struggled to close the border.
Where were these TDs when defence forces were calling for restoration of pay, and navy and aircorps were screaming out for new pilots, air and ground crews and sailors? 4 naval vessels tied up and aircraft that cannot fly without flight crews!?
This is nothing but table banging and optics. Good luck to him finding enough soldiers to close the crossings in one county, nevermind a whole border.
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