Simon Coveney warns against calling 'unnecessary' election in Northern Ireland

The Minister for Foreign Affairs said there are only two options - to go with the legal obligation to set an election date or to draft new legislation to avoid an election

Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney described the discussion with Chris Heaton-Harris as a "good meeting" during which both men reflected on the current situation and the legal obligations that he has as Northern Secretary.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has warned against calling an election in Northern Ireland saying it would be "unnecessary" and "unhelpful".

Mr Coveney met with Chris Heaton-Harris on Wednesday after the Northern Ireland Secretary failed to set a date for a poll after Friday's deadline for restoring the institutions passed. Legislation requires an election to be held within the next 12 weeks.

It has been reported that British prime minister Rishi Sunak overruled Mr Heaton-Harris in setting an election date last week as he wants to give power-sharing talks more time.

Mr Coveney described the discussion as a "good meeting" during which both men reflected on the current situation and the legal obligations that he has as Northern Secretary.

"I made it clear that the Irish Government's position is that we don't believe at this time that an election is a good thing for Northern Ireland in the context of the pressures that families and households are facing now and also in the context of the reality that we had an election only a number of months ago that we would like to see result in an Executive and an Assembly."

He said: "A winter election in the middle of all of that is not what the parties want, having spoken to them, and it certainly is not what people in Northern Ireland are asking for either."

He said both men had discussed "options" but no decisions around a way forward had been made.

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"I don't think we are going to have to wait for very long before decisions are made in relation to a way forward and the choices that the British government ultimately has to make."

He said there are only two options - to go with the legal obligation to set a date for an election or to draft new legislation to avoid an election.

Mr Coveney said both Governments are listening to the requests of all parties, including on the protocol, adding that "this is not the first time that Northern Ireland has been in a difficult place politically".

He acknowledged that the protocol impacts on politics in Northern Ireland, but he said that an Executive should have been established months ago in parallel with negotiations between the UK and the EU.