Mary Lou McDonald: Perfidious Albion alive and well and living in Downing St

Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald criticised the Taoiseach for not acting quickly enough in response to the decision to renege on the Irish protocol. Picture: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie

Perfidious Albion is alive and well and living in Downing Street, the Dáil has heard.

Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald president has hit out at "stupid and dangerous" UK government plans to renege on parts of the Brexit Withdrawal agreement.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin is to speak with British prime minister Boris Johnson this evening to express concerns around the legislation being put forward by his government which would breach international law.

But Ms McDonald criticised the Taoiseach for not acting quickly enough in response to the decision to renege on the Irish protocol, details of which first emerged on Sunday night.

She told the Dáil: "The position of Mr Johnson and his government is both stupid and dangerous. It is very clear that perfidious Albion is alive and well and living at No  10 Downing St."

She said the protocol was secured after a very long negotiation and represents the bare minimum required to protect Irish interests.

"It is essential to protect our economy, to ensure no hardening of the border on our island and to ensure our peace agreements are protected.

"The British secretary of state for Northern Ireland has made very clear that this legislation will breach international law. In other words, the British system is now breaching international law with its eyes wide open and is making no secret of that fact.

"All of this demonstrates how far Mr Boris Johnson's government is prepared to go to satisfy his Tory Brexiteers and, frankly, his own blunt English nationalism," Ms McDonald told the Dáil.

Mr Martin said the foundation stone of any agreement is trust, but told the Dáil that the unilateral nature of this decision by the British government undermines trust.

"Last evening, I spoke to the president of the European Commission, Dr von der Leyen, and we agreed that this was a very serious development.

"There was no prior notification to the Irish Government, at any level, as to this decision or measure. There was no heads-up. Whatever issues the government of the United Kingdom has with regard to the implementation or working through of the protocol should be dealt with in the negotiations which are to commence this week," he said.