ireland has bounced back from the financial crisis of 2008, but now it is being swept by a new wave of apprehension. this time it s all about brexit. because when britain leaves the european union, ireland will suffer significant collateral damage in terms ofjobs, trade, and the status of its borders. my guest today is ireland s foreign and trade minister, charles flanagan. will brexit have catastrophic consequences across the irish sea? charles flanagan, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. let me begin with some words from your boss, the prime minister, enda kenny. he said brexit represents the greatest economic and social challenge to this island in 50 years. now, he said that some time ago, not long after the british referendum. do you feel that way about brexit today? yes. the withdrawal of our neighbours, the uk, from the eu is potentially very damaging for the uk, for europe and for ireland. it certainly wasn t the result we expected or wanted. we re very disappointed, but
even if the justice department hadn t recommended it. that contradicts the original reasons given by mr trump and his officials. and, in his first interview since the news broke, the president also seemed to draw a clear connection between the sacking and the fbi s investigation into links between the trump campaign and russia, though he still insists this russia thing is a made up story. tim willcox reports. he s become more famous than me. 48 hours after his sacking, and the narrative keeps on changing. this presidential handshake not an act of friendship, it seems, but the beginning of the end for the fbi director. he s a showboat, he s a grandstander. .. and it was not on the advice of the deputy attorney general, as the white house had claimed. this was directly from the president. i was going to fire comey, my decision. it was not. you had made the decision before they came into the room. i was going to fire comey. yesterday, the white house claimed james comey had no
ireland has bounced back from the financial crisis of 2008, but now it is being swept by a new wave of apprehension. this time it s all about brexit. because when britain leaves the european union, ireland will suffer significant collateral damage in terms ofjobs, trade, and the status of its borders. my guest today is ireland s foreign and trade minister, charles flanagan. will brexit have catastrophic consequences across the irish sea? charles flanagan, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. let me begin with some words from your boss, the prime minister, enda kenny. he said brexit represents the greatest economic and social challenge to this island in 50 years. now, he said that some time ago, not long after the british referendum. do you feel that way about brexit today? yes. the withdrawal of our neighbours, the uk, from the eu is potentially very damaging for the uk, for europe and for ireland. it certainly wasn t the result we expected or wanted. we re very disappointed, but
to take a look at what s happening around the world. plenty of news on the sacking of fbi directorjames comey. the washington post s website has a write up of president trump s interview with broadcaster nbc. trump told the tv netwwork he was thinking of this russia thing with trump when he decided to fire comey contradicting the official white house line. the new york times has an article on its website from another man now at the centre of this story who is also contradicting the white house. the paper quotes acting director of the fbi andrew mcgabe saying the russian investigation is significant. moving on now to news in europe. the financial times has a story about recently elected french president emmanuel macronâs promise to get tough on eu trade. a macron adviser adds that the pro eu leader wants to address euroscepticism and the anger that drove many to vote for his rival marine le pen. further fallout from the uk labour s leaked election manifesto on the front
expected to take place sometime before the end of 2017. the exact timing of that referendum is not yet determined. now, as you probably guess or as you re probably able to guess, the first referendum on scottish independence which took place last september didn t tush outrn out exactly as i would have hoppeded that it would, but while that referendum didn t change scotland s constitutional position, it undoubtedly transformed scottish politics, and i would argue it has had a transformational effect on united kingdom politics as well. firstly, that referendum has made scotland one of the most politically engaged countries, i would argue, in the entire world. nearly everybody in scotland last year became intensely involved in a peaceful and passionate debate about the kind of country they want to live in. and that debate has had lasting consequences. for example the election in the uk voter turnout was some 5 persian percentage points higher. people who hadn t had much interest