DUBLIN (Reuters), – Ireland stated Sunday that it is ready for the British to invoke emergency unilateral provisions of its Brexit deal governing Northern Ireland’s trading arrangements. A move which would sever ties with Dublin as well the EU and the United States.

Britain has threatened to use Article 16 to initiate emergency measures if it feels that the post-Brexit deal is negatively affecting their interests.

In an interview on RTE radio Sunday, Simon Coveney stated that “all the evidence suggests that the British government have laid the foundations for Article 16 and that that is of course a concern.”

Britain voted out of the EU in the last year, but it has delayed implementing certain border controls between Northern Ireland and EU members Ireland. The 27-nation bloc said that London was required to do so under the terms of their agreement on divorce.

London claims the checks are excessive and are fueling tensions in Northern Ireland. This puts at risk any 1998 peace agreement.

1998’s agreement was largely successful in ending the “Troubles”, which were three decades long of conflict between pro-British Protestant “loyalists” and Irish Catholic Catholic militants. In those conflicts, 3,600 people were killed.

Coveney claimed that the British government is not in negotiations with good faith. There is a rising view throughout the European Union, however, that the UK wants to stop the talks and “deliberately ask for what they cannot get”.

The European Commission offered a series of measures that would facilitate trade between Britain and Northern Ireland in October. It was not enough to meet the demands of London for reformed trading rules after Brexit.

Coveney said, “I think that the EU can do a little more on some of these problems and have indicated they don’t want their package to be the last word from the EU but the UK government should work with them.”