IRELAND’S Deputy Prime Minister has condemned Labour’s Kate Hoey for “reckless” and “irresponsible” remarks after she claimed the Good Friday Agreement, which has brought peace to Northern Ireland for 20 years, was “unsustainable”.

Simon Coveney criticised the Leave-supporting MP, saying attacks on the accord could undermine the fragile peace process.

Posting a response to Hoey’s remarks on Twitter yesterday, Coveney, said: “Talking down the Good Friday Agreement because it raises serious and genuine questions of those pursuing #Brexit is not only irresponsible but reckless and potentially undermines the foundations of a fragile peace process in Northern Ireland that should never be taken for granted.”

He added: “The Belfast Agreement was supported by a referendum in Northern Ireland. The result was 71.1 per cent in favour. A simultaneous referendum held in the Republic produced an even larger majority of 94.4 per cent in favour – today’s Irish and British Govts remain absolutely committed to the GFA.”

Hoey said there was a need for a dispassionate look at the agreement after talks between Sinn Fein and the DUP to restore power-sharing at Stormont collapsed last week.

“I think there is a need for a cold rational look at the Belfast agreement,” Hoey said in the Huffington Post on Monday. “Mandatory coalition is not sustainable in the long term … we need to face reality – Sinn Fein don’t particularly want a successful Northern Ireland. They want a united Ireland.”

Her intervention followed attacks on the Good Friday Agreement by the former Conservative Northern Ireland secretary Owen Paterson and pro-Brexit MEP Daniel Hannan.

The Agreement stipulates a requirement for there to be no hard border between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland. The EU have backed the Republic of Ireland’s position that there must not be a hard border. Its demand prompted the UK Government in December to promise a “regulatory alignment” post-Brexit to ensure existing open border arrangements endured.

However, regulatory alignment between the UK and EU may scupper the hardline Brexiteers’ wish for regulatory divergence and their demand to “take back control” from Brussels.

The attacks on the Good Friday Agreement are being regarded as a way of undermining the prospect of a softer form of Brexit. The row comes as British and EU negotiators start two days of talks in Brussels, concentrating on Ireland and the Irish border.

In a move to prevent the disagreement from souring relations between the UK and Irish governments, the new Northern Ireland Secretary, Karen Bradley, explicitly backed the Good Friday Agreement in a statement to the Commons. Her support for the accord was welcomed by Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

An SNP spokesman said: “The attacks on the Good Friday Agreement from leading Brexiteers are nothing short of shameful and an indication they are willing to jeopardise the hard-won benefits of the peace process in order to push through a hard Brexit at almost any cost.”

The attacks on the Good Friday Agreement began at the weekend after a newspaper article written by Hannan. Tweeting the piece, Paterson remarked that the agreement had “outlived its use”.

Last year Hoey was compared to US President Donald Trump after she said the Irish Government should have to pay for infrastructure on the Irish border after Brexit if the UK left the EU without a deal.

“If it ends up with a no deal we won’t be putting up the border. They will have to pay for it because it doesn’t need to happen,” she said.