Peace deal cannot be ‘negotiated away’ by British political figures who want to quit ECHR, says Irish deputy PM
Northern Ireland’s peace deal cannot be “negotiated away” by British political figures who want to see the UK quit the European Convention of Human Rights if elected, the Irish tánaiste has warned.
The ECHR is an integral part of the 1998 Belfast Good Friday agreement and withdrawal would remove those foundations of peace, according to Simon Harris, Ireland’s deputy prime minister.
“The ECHR’s guarantees cannot be negotiated away, despite what some politicians might claim,” he will tell the British Irish Association conference in Oxford on Friday.
He will add that the ECHR was a “fundamental safeguard” and a “core part” of the agreement reflecting both countries’ shared role as guarantors of the 1998 peace accord.
