Wrong for DUP to put conditions on power sharing in the North
Taoiseach urges parties to form Executive
THE Taoiseach has said that the DUP is wrong to place conditions on the return to power-sharing in the North.
The unionist party, led by Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, says it will not form an Executive until issues with the Northern Ireland Protocol are resolved.
Micheal Martin said the Protocol, a post-brexit arrangement to avoid checks on the island of Ireland, was not the dominant issue in the Assembly election.
The vote was won by Sinn Fein in a historic victory, with the party overtaking the DUP to become the first nationalist or republican party to emerge on top at Stormont.
This means the Sinn Fein Stormont leader Michelle O’neill is in line to become First Minister.
Mr Martin yesterday urged the DUP to form a powersharing Executive alongside the other parties.
He added: “I think everyone should reflect on the results. It is a significant result. All the parties, bar the Traditional Unionist Voice, focused on the bread-and-butter issues.
“My sense is that the mandate they got was to take their Assembly seats.”
Mr Martin rejected any suggestion of EU inflexibility on the Northern Ireland Protocol, which created new checks on trade moving from Britain.
Instead, he said that there is a “landing zone” for a compromise between the two sides. He added Ireland was doing all it could to help facilitate those discussions.
Mr Martin said: “I don’t think the assessment that is coming from the British Government is a fair assessment of the
EU’S position.
“I think the European Union has been flexible, has demonstrated flexibility, but every time up to now that the European
Union has demonstrated flexibility, it hasn’t been reciprocated.
“And that has made the EU more cautious in terms of the discussions with the United Kingdom Government.”
The Sinn Fein victory has fuelled speculation about whether a referendum on Irish unity could soon take places.
But Mr Martin, while stressing his own support for unity, said: “That was not the mandate sought by Sinn Fein in the last three weeks.
“The whole campaign was on cost of living, on health and on housing.
“The border poll was nearly buried from its documentation and its manifesto and, [as] soon as the votes are counted, it is brought back into centre stage.”
He said that he did not agree with calls for a citizens’ assembly on Irish unity.
He added: “I don’t favour that approach because I think the way you build bridges between North and South is by first of all the political parties and members of parties, members of society more generally, engaging more and more.”
Mr Martin said he was committed to the growth of dialogue on the island, but hit out at Sinn Fein’s own preparation for any mooted border poll.
He said: “What work have they done in relation to that? Where is Sinn Fein’s work on this? It’s fairly scant now in terms of substance.”