Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has admitted that the Northern Ireland Protocol is causing “a lot of tension” in the province.
In February, the DUP collapsed the Northern Ireland Executive over the issue and have said they will not return to power sharing until it is resolved to their satisfaction.
Negotiations between the British Government and Brussels have resumed for the first time since February and Mr Coveney said is now a “flicker of optimism” that a deal could be done.
“We are in a better place than we were,” he told Newstalk Breakfast.
“There has been a real effort from the new team in the British Government to reach out to Dublin and to reach out to Brussels to try and improve relations and to try to rebuild trust.
“So I think we’ve created a flicker of optimism that both sides can work towards resolving some of the outstanding protocol issues that have been outstanding for far too long and have caused enormous polarisation of opinion in Northern Ireland and a lot of tension as well.”
Prime Minister Liz Truss, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence Simon Coveney and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris attend a Service of Reflection at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast. As Foreign Secretary Liz Truss tired of negotiations with Brussels and drew up a bill to unilaterally amend the protocol.
The Northern Ireland Protocol Bill is still winding its way through Westminster - something Mr Coveney described as “deeply unhelpful”.
However, he also said that the relationship between Britain and Brussels had improved markedly since Ms Truss became Prime Minister.
My pleasure to host UK Foreign Secretary @JamesCleverly at the Irish Embassy London for a working dinner. James & I discussed Brexit, the protocol, the war in Ukraine as well as our shared work at the UN Security Council. We agreed to work closely together on all. 🇮🇪🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/To01YdO6nW
— Simon Coveney (@simoncoveney) October 6, 2022
“I had a very good meeting last night with Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, we had him for dinner in the Irish Embassy in London,” he continued.
“We talked about a whole range of things from Ukraine, to energy cooperation but we spent most of the time as you would expect talking about how we can overcome the differences that we have on the protocol and how it’s implemented.
“So that we can respond to unionist concerns in Northern Ireland but of course protect Irish and EU interests as well.”
People take part in a Loyalist protest in Newtownards, County Down, against the Northern Ireland Protocol. Picture date: Friday June 18, 2021.Brian Lawless/PA Wire/PA ImagesIf power sharing is not restored by 28 October, then in theory fresh Assembly elections will be called by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
In practice, the North has gone several years without either an executive or an election and it is possible the deadline to restore power sharing will simply be extended.
The Irish Government, Mr Coveney said, is keen to avoid a further poll.
“A new election will take us backwards because it tends to polarise opinion even further and make compromise more difficult.”
Main image: Loyalists take part in an anti-Northern Ireland Protocol rally in Portadown, Co Armagh.
