Bertie Ahern: Relations between Ireland and UK are 'badly damaged'

Former taoiseach said likelihood of a trade war between the EU and UK now 'a step or two closer' after British government moved to scrap the Northern Ireland Protocol

British prime minister Tony Blair and taoiseach Bertie Ahern sign the Good Friday Agreement in April 1998: Mr Ahern said it had been very successful in ending the political violence but it has not been as successful as he or Tony Blair had hoped it would be. Picture: RollingNews.ie/Pool

A trade war between the EU and the UK is highly likely now that London has moved new laws to scrap the Northern Ireland Protocol, former taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said.

Addressing a meeting of the Institute of International and European Affairs, Mr Ahern said that while he was an optimist, the likelihood of such a trade war is now “a step or two closer”.