Tánaiste ‘does not anticipate any difficulties’ with new deal
THE Tánaiste has said advocacy from unionism has ‘paid dividends’ in changing post-Brexit trade arrangements for Northern Ireland as the new deal was published.
Micheál Martin said now is a moment ‘we need to grasp’ for the benefit of people in the North and across the entire island.
The Foreign Affairs Minister was speaking after meeting with parties in Belfast as the deal agreed between the DUP and the UK government was unveiled.
Under the deal, routine post-Brexit checks on goods shipped from Britain to final destinations in the North are to be removed.
The post-Brexit red lane for transporting goods from Britain to Northern Ireland and on into the EU single market will remain, but the command paper offers measures aimed at reducing the volume of trade required to use that red-tape heavy route, with a prediction that 80% of goods will now move free of routine checks through the internal market system.
The DUP has agreed to drop its two-year blockade of Stormont in exchange for measures aimed at addressing its concerns about post-Brexit trading arrangements in the Windsor Framework that created economic barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
Speaking at the Ulster Museum in Belfast, Mr Martin said: ‘In many ways, the Windsor Framework was a significant advance on the protocol and what had been there from a unionist perspective, and I would say that advocacy from unionism paid dividends in respect of the Windsor Framework, and indeed, on other issues as well in respect of the trading arrangements.’
Mr Martin said he had not yet read the agreement, but said he does ‘not anticipate any difficulties’ from the EU in relation to the new deal.
‘We are confident that there is nothing in these papers that would undermine the architecture of the Good Friday Agreement,’ he added.
Mr Martin said it is ‘a very big moment’ for Sinn Fein vicepresident Michelle O’Neill, who is in line to become the first nationalist first minister of Northern Ireland. He added: ‘I wish Michelle the very best... and, indeed, for whoever becomes the deputy first minister, representing the DUP.’