Brendan Hughes.Irish News. Belfast.Thursday, November 30, 2017

THE DUP’s Ian Paisley has been criticised for calling on the British government to make life hard for the Republic over Brexit and “shake their cage.”

The MP, pictured, said the UK could make a fisheries deal “extremely long, tedious and hard for them” and claimed that Dublin had acted “disgracefully.”

Speaking at a Westminister committee, he said the British government’s “pussyfooting needs to stop” and the Republic should “start acting in a mature way.”

Mr Paisley, who last year advised people in Northern Ireland to get Irish passports following the Brexit vote, said that if the UK was not prepared to warn the Republic publicly it should “shake their cage internally and privately.”

European leaders will meet in a fortnight to decide whether negotiations on leaving the EU can start discussing a future trade deal – a key aim of the British government.

The Republic’s administration says to support this it first needs a commitment that there will be no return to a hard border.

SDLP MLA Claire Hanna described Mr Paisley’s remarks as “absolute madness”. She urged British environment secretary Michael Gove to respond given the DUP’s confidence-and-supply deal with the Tory government.

“As a hard Brexiteer, Ian Paisley seems perfectly happy to cut his nose off to spite his face,” she said.

“Any suggestion that UK fisheries policy should be formulated on the basis of punishing Irish people and Irish businesses is absolute madness.

“But more than that, it will hurt businesses in the north who rely on cooperation across this island, particularly in the agri-food

sector.”

Sinn Féin MLA Philip McGuigan branded Mr Paisley’s comments “disgraceful.”

“Mr Paisley would better serve the people of North Antrim and the north by working to protect their interests, rather than slavishly toeing the Tory line into a disastrous Brexit,” he said.

Alliance deputy leader Stephen Farry said Brexit poses “genuine challenges” but added: “At present all we are getting from some people in the DUP and Conservative party are arrogant, condescending and insulting remarks.”