Truss's stance on NI protocol was 'unhelpful', says Ahern

Bertie Ahern said he hopes whoever becomes the next British prime minister will take a 'proactive' approach to talks with the EU.

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has criticised Liz Truss, who has resigned as British Prime Minister, describing her stance on the Northern Ireland Protocol negotiations as unhelpful.

Mr Ahern said he hopes whoever becomes the next prime minister will take a "proactive" approach to talks with the EU.

The former Fianna Fáil leader, one of the architects of the Good Friday Agreement, told the Good Friday Agreement parliamentary committee that the Prime Minister had changed on his way through the door of the committee.

"Whoever the British Prime Minister is, hopefully they will take a bit of a proactive position," Mr Ahern said. "Quite frankly, I didn't think it was helpful what the British Prime Minister of yesterday said, so maybe whoever is there tomorrow might say something different.

"What she said yesterday was that even if there was negotiations, that what was in the legislation would be the bottom line. Now, I never tried negotiations that declared the bottom line before I went into the negotiation, so that's clearly not going to solve anything."

Election

He said it would be an "awful pity" if the British Government calls an election in Northern Ireland next week.

Mr Ahern told the committee it is "hard to see" much progress being made on the protocol issues before the deadline of October 28 for calling another Assembly election if Stormont has not been reformed.

"The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is saying that he'll call an election next week ... whether that'll happen or not happen, but I think it'd be an awful pity," he said.

"It takes two to tango and if the British Government don't get into the discussions, well, it's very difficult to see it (progress being made).

"Hopefully whoever the next British Prime Minister is, and the officials, hopefully they can get down to real negotiations. But realistically, it's hard to see much happening before Friday week."

Bertie Ahern told the committee that restoring devolved government in Stormont will require "risk-taking" and "compromise" by all involved.

"The only way forward is in solutions that work for everybody," he said. "That was the spirt at the heart of the Good Friday Agreement and it's clear to me that it must be the spirt at the heart of how current difficulties are resolved."