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“Sabre rattling” and “grandstanding” at Westminster is not how the Northern Ireland protocol impasse will be resolved, Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has said.
Accusing the UK government of creating “huge tension” with its nearest neighbour, Mr Coveney said: “Ireland is also frustrated.
“We are dealing with the consequences now of a decision by the British people on our own country that’s cost us hundreds of millions of euros, that is risking the peace process and its institutions on the island of Ireland. So, you know when we focus on frustrations, we need to think beyond Westminster.”
Mr Coveney urged British prime minister Boris Johnson on Sunday not to introduce new post-Brexit trade laws in the coming the days that he said could undermine the peace process in Northern Ireland.
Top officials from Mr Johnson’s government have warned they might take unilateral action over the rules for goods going in and out of the North, raising alarm in the European Union.
Mr Coveney said London, Dublin and Brussels could find solutions for trade problems in Northern Ireland that have incensed pro-British politicians there. “But sabre-rattling and grandstanding in Westminster, ratcheting up tension, is not the way to do it,” he told Sky News television.
“There’s no way the EU can compromise if the UK is threatening unilateral action to pass domestic legislation to set aside international obligations under an international treaty that, don’t forget, the UK was the primary designer of along with the EU.
“So, yes, I understand the frustrations and, in particular, I understand the frustrations in the unionist community. I’ve spoken to many unionists who want to see pragmatism and real flexibility.
“In other words, trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland is not disrupted in any way that is not absolutely necessary. And we can get there to a landing zone if we work in partnership. But, you know, sabre rattling and grandstanding in Westminster ratcheting up tension is not the way to do it.”
He added: “At a time when the world needs the western world to be united, to be acting in concert to solve problems together. This is a problem we need to solve together. The last thing Ireland wants, the last thing the EU needs, is tension with a country the size and the influence of the United Kingdom. ”
Stumbling block
He was speaking after Taoiseach Micheál Martin described the British government of being the main stumbling block to resolving the Northern Ireland protocol issue because, unlike the Democratic Unionist Party, it had failed to set out a possible solution.
Mr Martin said it appeared to him the EU no longer trusted Boris Johnson’s government to resolve difficulties over the protocol.
“It’s very unclear what will suffice for the British government. We have some sense of what would work with unionism, but we don’t have that sense with the British government,” the Taoiseach said.
He cited the role of the UK’s former chief Brexit negotiator David Frost played in trying “to torpedo” a proposed resolution last year.
Replying in a Twitter post on Saturday, Mr Frost rejected Mr Martin’s criticism and said the British government’s stance was being “ignored or misrepresented”.
Monday meetings
Mr Coveney said he was due to talk on Monday with British foreign minister Liz Truss. “There is an opportunity I hope in the next few days to get this dialogue back on track,” Mr Coveney said, urging London against “deliberately breaking international law and creating huge tension with our closest neighbours and potentially undermining a peace process by doing that.”
Local elections in Northern Ireland this month led to renewed deadlock with pro-union parties opposing the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol, which sets out the trade arrangements, and pro-Irish parties supporting it.
Mr Johnson is due to visit the North on Monday and his office said he would deliver a “tough message” to political leaders in order to get their power-sharing institutions back up and running.
Downing Street also said Mr Johnson would say he had never suggested scrapping the protocol which instead needed to be reformed so that it delivers on its initial aim to protect the Northern Irish peace agreements.
British business minister Kwasi Kwarteng said London had the right, under the terms of the protocol, to take unilateral action to address trade problems and the priority for London was political stability.
“It’s clear to me that without changes to the protocol, you’re not going to get an assembly, you’re not going to get an executive, and that undermines stability,” Mr Kwarteng told Sky News.
The United States has called for continued dialogue between Britain and the EU to resolve the standoff. – Additional reporting Reuters and PA