Liz Truss has faced a furious backlash over her offensive ‘turnip’ comments.
Fine Gael Brexit spokesman, Neale Richmond, has demanded an apology and Labour foreign affairs spokesman, Brendan Howlin, blasted Ms Truss’ “ignorance and indifference.”
British Foreign Secretary Ms Truss was slammed after it was claimed that she made insulting comments about turnips, Brexit and Irish farmers.
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Ms Truss is reported to have said to an American audience in 2019 that a no-deal Brexit would “only affect a few farmers with turnips in the back of their trucks”.
Alexandra Hall Hall, a former Brexit counsellor at the UK embassy in Washington, revealed on Twitter on Tuesday night that Ms Truss made the remarks.
She said: “So pleased to see Liz Truss become a genuine expert on Irish matters.
“She was, after all, the minister who told a US audience three years ago that Brexit would not have any serious impact in Ireland . . . it would merely ‘affect a few farmers with turnips in the back of their trucks.’”
Her comments have emerged at a very sensitive time after she announced in the House of Commons that she plans to unilaterally scrap parts of the crucial Northern Ireland Protocol.
The protocol creates a special trade solution for the North that prevents a hard border coming back on the island of Ireland after Brexit.
But Unionists complain that this diminishes their Britishness as it essentially places a border down the Irish Sea instead of on land.
It has led to the DUP and other unionist parties refusing to take their places in Stormont after the new elections earlier this month.
This means that the Northern Executive cannot sit and politics in the North is back in stalemate again.
Labour’s Mr Howlin told the Irish Mirror that Ms Truss is ignorant of the effect her ‘turnip’ comments have had.
He said: "It is shocking but not surprising unfortunately.
“The fact that the entire Brexit project was based on an ignorance of and indifference to its impact on Ireland and Northern Ireland is laid threadbare by the publication of this statement by the British foreign secretary."
Fine Gael TD, Mr Richmond, is calling for a full scale apology from Ms Truss.
He said: “These comments, if accurate, are both offensive and revealing.
“Sadly, the ignorance of Ireland and the impacts of Brexit on it is worryingly high amongst those who pushed Brexit in the first place and those who champion it now.
“We all remember far too well the awful comments made in 2018 by the now Home Secretary about starving the Irish.
“I would hope the Foreign Secretary will move swiftly to clarify these comments before she meets Minister Coveney and if accurate, an apology is in order.”
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