The leader of Sinn Féin has advocated once again for an all-island approach to suppressing the transmission of COVID-19 north and south of the Irish Border.
Mary Lou McDonald said the party has been pressing the Irish government, as well as the power-sharing executive in Northern Ireland, about the measure but to no avail.
It comes as the country has passed 100,000 cases of the virus this month, more than all of 2020 combined.
Meanwhile, there have been a total 103,960 positive cases of coronavirus reported in the North to date after a further 426 were confirmed today.
Speaking to On The Record with Gavan Reilly, Ms McDonald said she remains hopeful that a consensus can be reached between the two Governments on an all-Ireland approach to the virus.
She said: "You don't have to be an expert epidemiologist to realise to keep any of us safe, you keep all of us safe, and we have a strategic advantage living on an island."
The Sinn Féin leader said the party had faced particular resistance from unionist politicians in the North who wanted to adhere to guidance from Britain.
Earlier this week, DUP MP Sammy Wilson told Newstalk that an all-island approach to international travel is not acceptable practically or politically, with restrictions between Northern Ireland and Britain unacceptable.
"We have faced a very considerable challenge when some colleagues form unionism have looked to London to take their lead from Boris Johnson, who initially was adopting a very laissez-faire herd immunity approach which would have proved catastrophic for all of us," she said.
She added that calls for cross border tracking and tracing, "unfortunately didn't happen", but "worse than that", where there was a move to share data on international travel, "the [Irish] Government here resisted that for reasons I can't understand".
"I find that quite mind-boggling," Ms McDonald stated.
"If you look to, for example, Scotland, and what the Scots have done, and they live on the island of Britain, they have been very clear that the assessment that is made on the basis of public health and public health only, and measures that are necessary to protect people's health will be taken."
She is hopeful that given the high levels of community transmission and the prevalence of new variants from the UK, South Africa and Brazil will "refocus and reshape the political conversation" about an all-Ireland approach.
Sinn Féin are not trying to engage in "oneupmanship " or add politics to the issue other than keeping people safe, she said.
Ms McDonald acknowledged that there has been a convergence of public health restrictions north and south of the Border, with measures in place in both regions until March 5th.
She also added that solving international travel onto the island of Ireland "isn't the silver bullet that's going to sort everything out".
"All of the political obstacles and dilemmas are self-evident in this scenario," she stated.
"But I think it should also be self-evident that in the absence of real political drive and will, what you get is a state of inertia and what you get, which is what we have seen, is months of a memorandum of understanding that really opened up a door for joint action and to demonstrate success, but that wasn't grabbed and wasn't pursed."
Irish Border near Newry. Photo: Mariusz Smiejek/dpa | usage worldwideNorthern Ireland Protocol
Ms McDonald added there shouldn't be a "tit for tat" response from the UK after a row over Article 16 on Friday.
The North's First Minister Arlene Foster said yesterday that the British Prime Minister should use the emergency clause, which is part of the Brexit deal.
It comes after the European Commission planned to use it to stop COVID-19 vaccines leaving the jurisdiction, plans that were scrapped after strong criticism.
The EU "blindsided" member states by attempting to impose controls on vaccines being exported to Northern Ireland, the Taoiseach Micheál Martin said today.
Ms McDonald said Friday's events were a "grave error" and a "mistake that was compounded by the fact that nobody was made aware that this was the thinking of the Commission".
This includes chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, Dublin or London, which caused a level of "deep concern and annoyance", she stated.
"The whole Brexit deal has been framed by an understanding by most of us and an acknowledgement that there never any good Brexit and it was going to bring real and enduring damage, not least to Ireland.
"The Protocol was secured over a very protected period of time just to afford some basic protections for the island of Ireland as a whole."
Calls for a tit for tat invocation of article 16 by the British government are utterly reckless. The protections of the Irish protocol were hard won. Noone should place those protections in jeopardy. Brexit causes real damage to Ireland we need to protect our island.
— Mary Lou McDonald (@MaryLouMcDonald) January 30, 2021
If the deal has been made in a more orderly and organised fashion, it would have given everyone concerned time to prepare, but that's not what happened, she added.
Ms McDonald said that while the events on Friday "took everybody by surprise", she was relieved that the EU Commission back away from the proposed triggering of Article 16.
"To those who are now saying the British Prime Minister should reciprocate, should enter into a kind of tit for tat triggering of Article 16, that would be absolutely irresponsible and should not be countenanced," she warned.
"Those who are making that call need to give their heads a shake a reconsider their position.
She confirmed that this includes Arlene Foster.
The Sinn Féin leader believes a "frank discussion" needs to be had with the Commission "to remind everyone of the purpose of the Protocol and to ensure we don't have a repeat performance of what was unfolding on Friday night".
Such a level of "common understanding" is needed to give a sense of "stability" and "no drama", she added.
