Starmer: Irish-British relationship 'not as good as it should have been during Brexit years'

British prime minister said UK-Ireland Summit would focus on security, and 'share prosperity' in energy, trade, and maritime security

UK prime minister Keir Starmer speaking at Cork City Hall ahead of the UK-Ireland summit. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA

The Irish and British relationship "was not as good as it should have been" during the "turbulent" Brexit years, British prime minister Keir Starmer has said.

Speaking at Cork City Hall on Thursday as the city hosted a UK-Ireland Summit, Mr Starmer said the yearly summit was about "turning the page" on those years, which saw strained relations as the UK exited the EU.

Mr Starmer told an audience the summit was part of an effort to "improve, reset and take forward" the relationship between the two countries.

"In a world that has more conflict now than at any time that most of us can remember, it's really important that we work together, that we stick together and we're close allies. "

He said this year's event would focus on security and "share prosperity" in areas like energy, trade, and maritime security.

"This is an age of dramatic uncertainty, I think the last two weeks are a reminder of that uncertainty and I genuinely believe that that cooperation is more important now than it ever has been."

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the two governments were pledging €5m in funding for 12 new partnership projects involving national cultural institutions and key cultural organisations in the UK.

The projects include co-productions in theatre and music, shared research on material held in the two respective national archives and national libraries, and the organisation of shared exhibitions in visual art.

Mr Martin said: "Few relationships are as deep, as layered, or as enduring as the ties between Cork and the communities of the United Kingdom".

"Generations of Irish people departed for Britain — seeking work, opportunity, or refuge — and in doing so, they built bridges of family, culture and commerce that endure to this day," he added.

UK prime minister Keir Starmer and Taoiseach Micheál Martin during a reception at Cork City Hall ahead of the UK-Ireland summit in Cork. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA

Earlier in Belfast, Mr Starmer had said that while there were issues that the governments in London and Dublin did not agree on, there were "not as many issues as many people try to make out".

Mr Starmer added: "Our job is to manage through those issues and come to a proper resolution, rather than to escalate them. That's the basis on which I've worked, that's why the UK-Ireland relationship is in a better place and I'll continue in that vein."

Mr Starmer also said what Irish language rap trio Kneecap stand for and say is "completely intolerable".

He said the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) would be looking "very carefully" at a judgment that Kneecap rapper Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh
will not face a terror trial.

He had been accused of displaying a flag in support of proscribed terror organisation Hezbollah at a gig at the O2 Forum in north London on November 21 2024.

But the case was thrown out in September last year, with chief magistrate Paul Goldspring ruling the proceedings were "instituted unlawfully".

The CPS appealed against the decision at the High Court at a hearing in January, with the Kneecap rapper opposing the challenge.

In a judgment on Wednesday, two judges at the High Court upheld the decision and dismissed the CPS appeal.

Keir Starmer said on Thursday: "My views on Kneecap are very well known in relation to what they stand for and what they say, which is completely intolerable."

• Paul Hosford, Acting Political Editor