ON THE NEW UK LEADER
THE Tánaiste believes his shared Indian heritage with new British prime minister Rishi Sunak could help restore positive relations with the UK.
‘I’ve never met Rishi Sunak but we both come from an Indian background, or at least both of us are of Indian heritage and both our dads were GPs.
‘So, you know, there are lots of similarities… but lots of differences as well.
‘I’m not a billionaire, for example, but I look forward to meeting him and I think he’s a serious politician. I think he’s been found to be right about economic policy in recent times. I know he’s a supporter of Brexit and was an early supporter of Brexit. But he also voted for Theresa May’s deal, the backstop, on three occasions. So he is a pragmatic person as well. I hope we’ll be able to put things back on a better keel or better relationship and I look forward to meeting him whenever I have a chance,’ he says.
‘The relationship between the governments in London and Dublin is absolutely crucial.
‘They’re [Britain] not as important to us economically as [they] used to be, but [are] still a very big trading partner.
‘And what happens there often affects us here, so it is still an important economic relationship. But more important than that is Northern Ireland. We’ll mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement next year. Northern Ireland works best when the British and Irish governments work together. ‘And if the two governments work together, if they have a common objective like they did on many occasions in the past, they, through encouragement and pressure, can get the parties in the North to do the right thing by the people of Northern Ireland.’