Need for 'better co-ordination' between Ireland and UK on Covid-19 response

Taoiseach Micheál Martin described the meeting as 'very useful and constructive'. File Picture: Sasko Lazarov/Rollingnews.ie

There is an "an ongoing need for better co-ordination" on Covid-19 across Ireland and the UK, the British-Irish Council has heard.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin met with leaders from devolved nations in the UK for a teleconference on Friday to discuss the ongoing crises in Covid-19 and Brexit.

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Martin said the leaders, North and South, had "a very useful and constructive discussion" on the impact of Covid-19, saying even though the cases in Ireland are dropping, the State has "some distance to go".

"We intend to keep the pressure on the virus, so that we can open up again in December and beyond into the month of January, February, March and, hopefully, a vaccine will arrive towards the end of the year that we give some hope to people for 2021," said Mr Martin.

The leaders were asked if an agreement on travel restrictions covering Ireland and the UK was possible, as it would go some way towards helping people plan any potential travel ahead of Christmas.

As Taoiseach, he said he has "separate and ongoing engagement with the first and deputy first minister in respect of the situation on the island of Ireland and the perspective on our island of dealing with the spread of the virus", adding "there's an acknowledgement that there's an ongoing need for better co-ordination".

"Generally, across all administrations, we raised the point that we do need, at some stage, to identify the correct level of restrictions over a medium-term period that would be consistent with protecting lives and livelihoods and keeping key sectors of the economy going," he said.

"But right now, at this current phase of the virus across Europe, and within administrations, so to speak, to varying degrees, we're all engaged in imposing significant levels of restriction on society to get the virus down."

Likewise, the North's first minister Arlene Foster said that although the virus would be "with us for some considerable time", her priority is protecting the people of the North.

Deputy first minister Michelle O'Neill said alignment on the island of Ireland should be prioritised as the virus moves easily from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

"I think it's really, really important that particularly on the island that we're as aligned as we can be," said Ms O'Neill.

"We are at different stages in terms of the virus transmission. We did go into lockdown before anyone else but I think that we have to keep the situation under review and we must be as aligned as we possibly can be at the different stages of the virus because, as we know, the virus doesn't stop, because it moves from one jurisdiction to another, it moves very fluidly across this island.

"I think that the issue of travel is crucially important as we move forward and move out.

"We've had different approaches on this across the islands. I think that's been really unhelpful. I think it'd be much better if we can get aligned so I welcome the fact that we have committed to further conversation around the issue of problems in the future."