Ray Bassett is a former Irish diplomat. Bassett was born in Dublin and attended

O'Connell School The O’Connell School is a secondary and primary school for boys located on North Richmond Street in Dublin, Ireland. The school, named in honour of the leader of Catholic Emancipation, Daniel O’Connell, has the distinction of being the oldes ...

. He then attended Trinity College Dublin first earning a B.A. (mod) in biochemistry in 1973 and then a PhD in biochemistry in 1979. He served as an ambassador from Ireland to Canada, Jamaica, and the Bahamas and joint Secretary to the British–Irish Intergovernmental Conference in Belfast before retiring in October 2016. He is the senior fellow for EU affairs at the centre-right think tank Policy Exchange. He is also the author of ''Brexit: Options for the Border'' and ''Brexit and the Border''. In 2020 Bassett published a book, ''Ireland and the EU Post Brexit'', which was sharply critical of Ireland's former Taoiseach

Leo Varadkar Leo Eric Varadkar ( ; born 18 January 1979) is an Irish politician who has served as Taoiseach since December 2022, and previously from 2017 to 2020. He served as Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment from June 2020 to De ...

. Bassett alleged that Varadkar "had done everything in his power to thwart the democratic outcome in the UK he Brexit vote in 2016... The gamble failed and Ireland is now facing a very difficult situation ... Opposing a fair deal for the UK was never in Ireland's interests. It was a huge blunder." He is not involved with any political party and has addressed groups from the far-right

Irish Freedom Party The Irish Freedom Party or the Irexit Freedom To Prosper Party, sometimes referred to as IFP, or IFTPP is a minor right-wing to far-right hard Eurosceptic political party in Ireland, launched on 8 September 2018. It advocates Irish withdrawal ...

, mainstream political groups, and the Communist Party of Ireland on the left. He was an unsuccessful candidate in the

2022 Dublin University by-election A by-election was held for the Seanad Éireann Dublin University constituency in Ireland in March 2022. Ballot papers were issued on 25 February and polls closed at 11 a.m. on 30 March 2022. The election was won by former army officer and whistle ...

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The death of a Pope plus 50 years in the EU The Government is misleading us on the border with Northern Ireland, Ray Bassett at Irexit Cork
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bassett, Ray Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century diplomats 21st-century Irish male writers 20th-century diplomats Ambassadors of Ireland to the Bahamas Ambassadors of Ireland to Jamaica Ambassadors of Ireland to Canada