Ryanair wades into Irish Brexit row, predicts May’s victory

Bloomberg

Ryanair Holdings Plc Chief Executive Officer Michael O’Leary waded into the row over the UK’s Brexit logjam, saying controversy over the so-called Irish backstop has been exaggerated.
The backstop, which keeps the UK in a customs union with the European Union unless a future trade deal makes border checks unnecessary, won’t be a problem so long as Britain moves ahead and negotiates such an arrangement, he CEO said.
“The Northern Ireland border is not the issue it’s painted to be,” he told Bloomberg TV in Brussels. “You can’t come back to a hard border in Ireland and the backstop is a sensible protection. The Brexiteers can remove it at a stroke of their pen by doing a trade deal with the Europeans. Get on and do it.”
O’Leary, an outspoken anti-Brexit campaigner in the run up to 2016’s vote who claimed it would ground flights and force Britons to holiday by bus and ferry in Scotland and Ireland, is less concerned about events immediately after March 29 now that the prospect of a no-deal split appears to have receded. He predicted that opponents of Prime Minister Theresa May’s agreement with the EU will fall into line and back the deal in Parliament.
“I’m marginally more optimistic now,” he said. “The mood music in London looks like they’re going to vote for Theresa May’s deal. At least we have some certainty through 2019 and that’s a welcome development.”
O’Leary, whose company is the third biggest on the Irish stock exchange but counts Britain as its top market, said an agreement could still amount to “kicking the can down the road” if subsequent trade talks don’t move faster than the exit negotiations.