Professor Colin Harvey:

In all practical terms, and for our purposes today and, on reflection, it is one of the weaknesses in the Good Friday Agreement and British-Irish Agreement that one can have a situation where the Irish Government says "This is our reading of the Agreement", the British Government says "This is our reading of the Agreement", and, as they are the co-guarantors we are in a sense left with that. The weight of opinion, I have to say, is on the side of the Irish Government, and with Ms DeSouza's reading of this provision. The focus should be on the British Government, in good faith, implementing its international legal obligations. The Irish Government needs to ensure that happens, in the context of European Union support for the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts and support for the Good Friday Agreement in the US and elsewhere.