Enda Kenny and Arlene Foster meet to discuss post-Brexit future

Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Northern Ireland’s first minister Arlene Foster will meet today to discuss the fallout from Brexit, two weeks after she accused the Republic of secretly “talking down” the North’s economy in order to steal its jobs.

Mr Kenny and his DUP counterpart will, this evening in Government Buildings, discuss the financial issues affecting both jurisdictions in light of the decision last June for the UK to leave the EU. The official bilateral meeting, which will follow the launch of Ireland’s rugby World Cup host bid in Lansdowne Road, comes just a fortnight after Ms Foster hit out at what she claimed were underhand tactics from Dublin in the battle for post-Brexit jobs.

Speaking at a a DUP conference in east Belfast late last month, Ms Foster said that, while the relationship between both jurisdictions has improved drastically, she and others are frustrated over attempts to “talk down” the North’s economy.

“While they seek to take the views of people of Northern Ireland on the issue of Brexit at home, their representatives are sent around the world to talk down our economy and to attempt to poach our investors,” she said.

The issue is likely to be a major part of the agenda between both leaders, but a senior Government official last night stressed that there is “far less tension in private between them than in public”.

It is believed the Government views Ms Foster’s comments as an attempt to play up to DUP grassroots members and that the claim Dublin is undermining the North’s economy in an uncertain world will not be a significant hurdle to talks.

Mr Kenny and Ms Foster have previously clashed publicly over the Taoiseach’s decision earlier this year to announce plans for a cross-border forum on Brexit.

Enda Kenny

The DUP leader responded by saying she had not been approached about the forum and would not take part.

While both jurisdictions’ financial health is strongly linked, the Republic and Northern Ireland are also in direct competition with each other over companies, which may move from Britain in light of Brexit.

The bilateral meeting will take place today before a wider north-south ministerial council meeting in Co Armagh on Friday, which is expected to see other cabinet members press home the need for combined efforts to protect Ireland from the Brexit fallout.

Last month, a senior Government source told the Irish Examiner that Ireland is targeting up to 100 British-based companies it believes can be convinced to re-locate to this country.