Leo Varadkar urges UK to pause work on Legacy Bill

Mr Varadkar said he will meet British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in October which will allow for discussions on a Plan B to restore power-sharing in the North

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said: "Our Constitution, Articles 2 and 3, aspire to unity. It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.”

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he has appealed to the UK Government to pause progressing further with its controversial Legacy Bill.

Mr Varadkar said the Government hasn’t made a decision yet on whether to take legal action against the UK and is awaiting advice from the Attorney General which is due in a number of weeks. The Taoiseach was speaking in Belfast following a meeting with Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris.

Mr Varadkar said: “We have once again appealed to the UK Government to pause this. We don't think it's the right thing to do.

“We haven't yet made a decision on whether or not we'll take an inter-State case to Europe on such a big decision. It's not a small thing to do, to take a neighbouring state to court.”

Mr Varadkar said in his discussions with the UK's Secretary of State, they talked about the lack of progress being made when it comes to establishing the Executive and the Assembly.

He said: “We're very keen for that to happen. And I did say to the Secretary of State that there is going to come a point where we can't keep waiting and we have to start talking about alternative arrangements, within the confines of the Good Friday Agreement.”

Mr Varadkar said he will meet British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in October which will allow for discussions on a Plan B to restore power-sharing.

Mr Heaton-Harris has said Taoiseach Leo Varadkar had been making "unhelpful comments" that were impacting unionists in Northern Ireland when he said he believed he would see a United Ireland in his lifetime.

"The Taoiseach's got a lot of domestic politics on his plate, but occasionally unhelpful comments down in Dublin do resonate up here amongst the unionist community, and I need the clearest picture possible to get the executive up and running," he said.

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Mr Varadkar said it’s not the first time he’s expressed his view that he’d like to see a United Ireland in his lifetime.

“Every time I say it, it's not the right time. So I would have often asked the question of people: when is the right time? Our Constitution, Articles 2 and 3, aspire to unity. It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone,” Mr Varadkar added.

Mr Varadkar was asked if he favoured Confederation as an interim step between the two jurisdictions on this island if a border poll were passed and unity endorsed. He said: “I’m not going to talk about that today, but I might on another occasion.”

The Taoiseach also met with European Commission Vice President Maros Šefčovič, a representative of the UK Government, and the head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service, Dr Jayne Brady, and was joined by Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe.

They announced €1.14bn in funding through PEACEPLUS — a new EU programme to build reconciliation and greater prosperity across Northern Ireland and the border counties of Ireland.