Taoiseach holds 'very useful' meeting with Northern Irish parties

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar arrives in Belfast city centre for meetings with the Stormont political parties amid the ongoing collapse of devolved government in Northern Ireland. Picture: Rebecca Black/PA Wire

The Taoiseach has held a "very useful" meeting with the main political party leaders in Northern Ireland.

Leo Varadkar met with Sinn Fein leader in Northern Ireland Michelle O’Neill, DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson, Alliance Party leader Naomi Long, UUP leader Doug Beattie and the SDLP MLA Matthew O’Toole in Belfast on Wednesday morning.

Later today, he will take part in a number of civic and business engagements with Linfield Football Club, the GAA Ulster Council, the Federation of Small Businesses, and Women in Business.

Soeaking before his arrival at the Grand Central Hotel, Mr Varadkar said he would be reminding the parties of  the “pressing” need to get the Stormont institutions in place “without delay”.

Speaking afterwards, Mr Donaldson described the meeting as 'very useful.

The DUP collapsed the Stormont executive last year in protest at post-Brexit trading arrangements in place under the Northern Ireland Protocol.

However, DUP leader Donaldson told reporters that the meeting was "very useful."

He said: “We talked about matters of mutual interest and concern, and obviously trade is one of those areas, cross-border trade.

"Our focus at the moment is on resolving the major problems that were created by the Northern Ireland Protocol, we continue to engage with the Government, that engagement has intensified in recent weeks, and I hope that within the next few weeks we will have a definitive response from the Government and we’ll be able to put a proposition forward.

"But the Government knows that more needs to be done, and we need to see that progress. I want to see the assembly and executive restored, properly functioning, but I am very clear: we need a solution that works for Northern Ireland that resolves the problems created by the Northern Ireland Protocol and that protects in law our ability to trade within the UK internal market with the rest of the United Kingdom."

Sinn Fein vice president Ms O’Neill said “public patience is wearing thin” with the DUP over the lack of a functioning executive in Northern Ireland.

She said she agreed with the Taoiseach that the British and Irish governments need to be working together to revive the executive.

"I’ve heard more urgency from the Taoiseach today than I’ve heard from the British Government in terms of the need to restore the executive.

"Minds are going to quickly turn to return to school in September. People still are sitting, not knowing if their child is going to have a place in September.

"Alongside that we’re going to be in a whole new budget process where potentially the British Government will again set a budget for our public services.

Not acceptable, not good enough. Patience is just wearing thin with the DUP.

“We need an executive today. It’s long overdue, the public need it to be there fighting their corner, dealing with the budgetary situation that we have, fighting their corner in terms of good public services. There shouldn’t be any more delay as to that.”

Speaking after the meeting with the Taoiseach aradkar which he characterised as a “neighbourly catch-up”, Mr Beattie said: “It’s all well and good the Taoiseach saying that the UK Government needs to talk to them [the Irish government] more, I would argue UK Government needs to talk to us more.

“Because I want to be involved, I want to add value, I want to fix the problems at the impasse that where we’re on now.”