'Strained' relations with NI can be repaired — Taoiseach

Taoiseach Micheál Martin and British Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove at the British Irish Council summit in Lough Erne Resort in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh today. Picture: PA Photo

Relations between Ireland and Northern Ireland have been strained, but can be repaired, the Taoiseach says.

Speaking at the British Irish Council meeting in Fermanagh today, Micheál Martin told the Irish Examiner that "where there's a will, there's a way". He said that he will have discussions with incoming DUP leader Edwin Poots on strengthening relations between Dublin and Belfast in light of the standoff on the Northern Protocol and Brexit.

"Brexit has strained the situation and protocol has created issues, but the challenge for politicians is to work through the existing mechanisms to resolve issues. That's what I'm committed to and it can be done."

Mr Martin said that US President Joe Biden's intervention in the protocol standoff was "significant" and "interesting". He said that Ireland believes that an agreement on plant and animal checks, known as an SPS agreement was the best way of resolving the standoff on the Northern Protocol. He said that Mr Biden wants to see the EU and UK aligned "in the face of growing authoritarianism" across the globe and that the political will "is there in the EU" to solve the issues.

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Asked about the so-called "sausage wars", which came after the UK's Brexit minister David Frost refused to rule out the possibility that the UK could unilaterally delay imposing checks on British-made chilled meats which are due to come into force at the end of the month, Mr Martin said that there was a "very good quality sausage" at the meeting's breakfast. 

The UK's representative, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove, said that the protocol was a joint agreement which his government was committed to. He said that there was a "willingness among pragmatic people in the EU" to work within the protocol to ensure it is implemented and the UK, US and EU are determined to work together.

Asked about the stability of the Stormont Assembly, Michelle O'Neill says Sinn Féin is committed to power-sharing but says DUP leader Edwin Poots is "in no doubt about what is required" to see Sinn Féin re-enter the executive. There has been speculation that Sinn Féin will decline to nominate a First Minister next week after Arlene Foster departs office and Paul Givan is nominated by the DUP as her replacement.

Ms O'Neill said that Sinn Féin was "committed to making" power-sharing work.

Ms Foster said that the Northern Protocol was causing "imbalances" in the Good Friday Agreement, saying that the "totality of the relationships in the North means that we have to get back on an even keel".