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Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the UK and European Union need to “knuckle down” and resolve the dispute over Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit arrangements, as a meeting of the British-Irish Council is set to take place in Wales on Friday.
The meeting of politicians from across Ireland and the UK comes amid ongoing negotiations between London and Brussels about post-Brexit trading arrangements in Northern Ireland, and is expected to include discussions on the Northern Ireland protocol.
UK Brexit minister David Frost will hold further talks with European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic on Friday, with the UK still warning that it could unilaterally suspend parts of the Northern Ireland deal unless major changes are made.
But Mr Martin said he was encouraged that progress is being made and the “mood music” has changed. In a BBC interview, Mr Martin cautioned the UK against taking the step of triggering article 16 of the Northern Ireland protocol, which would suspend parts of the arrangements.
The protocol was put in place to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland by effectively keeping Northern Ireland in the EU’s single market for goods, but that meant checks on products crossing the Irish Sea from Britain.
Earlier this week, Mr Frost was urged by political parties at Stormont to find agreement with the EU.
Unionists argue that the protocol undermines Northern Ireland’s place in the UK, while Boris Johnson’s government has threatened to invoke article 16 and unilaterally suspend parts of the agreement.
Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern said loyalists in east Belfast and “ghettos” in Northern Ireland “don’t have a clue” about the post-Brexit protocol, and see it as a “trick by the South” to create a united Ireland,
Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said it was “deeply disappointing” that the UK government was not showing any “reciprocal willingness to compromise” after the EU had offered “a significant compromise” to reduce checks with new proposals last month.
Cardiff summit
The Covid-19 pandemic and climate change are also expected to be on the agenda during the summit in Cardiff.
Welsh first minister Mark Drakeford, who is hosting the meeting, said that the summit was a “timely opportunity to support dialogue and collective action between our governments.
“This is more essential than ever given the current challenges we all face.
“The council plays a unique and critical role in developing positive relationships between its members,” he said.
The last meeting of the British-Irish Council took place in June in Fermanagh. – PA