‘Give UK and EU space to negotiate’
UK and EU negotiators must be given space to find a resolution to the Northern Ireland Protocol impasse, Ireland’s deputy premier has said.
Micheal Martin stressed that the UK Government and European Commission still had to overcome challenges if a deal was to be struck.
Mr Martin said it was “no bad thing” that not much detail was emerging from the process on the state of the negotiations.
The Tanaiste was at a meeting of the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels.
“I think we all welcome the fact that the EU negotiating team and United Kingdom’s negotiating team have been engaging and continue to engage on the issue,” he said.
“I’ve never understated the challenges that face them, but the important aspect of this is that they are talking and I do believe they should be allowed space to continue the negotiations.”
The protocol was agreed by the UK and EU in 2019 to unlock the logjam over securing a Brexit withdrawal agreement. Designed to keep the Irish land border freeflowing, it moved regulatory and customs checks on goods to the Irish Sea, creating economic barriers on trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Many unionists in Northern Ireland are vehemently opposed to arrangements they claim have weakened the region’s place within the union.
The DUP is currently blocking the functioning of powersharing at Stormont and has made clear it will not allow devolution to return unless major changes to the protocol are delivered.
On Sunday, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson warned the Prime Minister not to serve up a “half-baked” deal to resolve the protocol stand-off.
He cautioned against any interim arrangement with the EU as he urged Rishi Sunak to “get this done, and done properly”.
Both London and Brussels are keen to secure a breakthrough that would facilitate the return to the devolved institutions at Stormont ahead of the anniversary of the Good Friday/Belfast peace agreement on April 25.
The Government has tabled draft legislation - the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill that would empower ministers to unilaterally scrap the protocol without the consent of Brussels. However, Mr Sunak has paused progress of the Bill through Parliament as efforts to secure a negotiated settlement with the EU have ramped up.