‘We’ll help all we can with Executive talks’ – Varadkar

LEO Varadkar has said he and Theresa May are prepared to ‘drop everything’ if the Northern parties look like they could make progress towards striking a deal on restoring the power-sharing administration.

Describing the gulf between Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party as ‘wide and deep’, the Taoiseach said he did not believe the differences between the two main parties were insurmountable.

He said that, having spoken to the British Prime Minister on the phone, they have both agreed to become directly involved in negotiations to restore the Executive if they believe it will make a difference.

‘If the main parties, Sinn Féin and the DUP, come to a point where an agreement can be sealed, we are willing and able to do what we can to get the executive up and running and have the assembly meeting.

‘If there is a point at which an intervention would make a difference we are absolutely willing to drop everything and deal with that,’ he said.

Relations between the DUP and the Gov- ernment here have become strained over the issue of a post-Brexit border.

Before he arrived in Belfast, the DUP accused the Taoiseach of being incoherent and incompetent on what would happen to North-South relations in the wake of Brexit.

Party leader Arlene Foster also described comments Mr Varadkar had made about the border as ‘not helpful’.

In a more conciliatory tone, the Taoiseach said he has not spoken ‘in disparaging terms about any politician or party’ and added that he does not intend to do so.

Earlier, during a speech at Queen’s University in Belfast, Mr Varadkar urged the region’s politicians to resolve their differences.

In his first official visit to the North as Taoiseach, he told an invited audience that ‘every single aspect of life in Northern Ireland could be affected by Brexit’ and that it is ‘the challenge of this generation’.

Mr Varadkar highlighted that the EU 27 would meet in October to decide whether sufficient progress had been made in the initial phase of negotiations – focused on the financial settlement, citizens’ rights and the Irish border – to enable talks to proceed to the next phase.