Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that it wasn't possible for Stormont to have a 'voice' when the protocol was implemented after Brexit
TAOISEACH LEO VARADKAR has said that he has “regrets” over the Northern Ireland Protocol being imposed as the latest deadline for restoring the executive at Stormont has passed without any breakthrough.
As no agreement was reached before the latest deadline of 19 January, the UK Government has once again assumed a legal duty to call a snap Assembly election in the region, but Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has stated that there will be no election called for at least a few weeks.“I’ll use the next few weeks to carefully assess all options about what happens next and continue to talk to all interested parties before I make any decisions,” he said yesterday.
The Stormont impasse featured prominently when Heaton-Harris attended the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference which took place in Farmleigh House in the Phoenix Park. “I’m looking forward to seeing what the talks between the United Kingdom and the European Union can bring forward and I very much hope that we can move forward from there.”
The EU and UK continue to engage in negotiations aimed at significantly reducing the red tape on Irish Sea trade, with both sides recently talking up the potential of an agreed solution being reached. If a deal emerges in the coming weeks, and the DUP agrees to re-enter power-sharing on the back of it, the Northern Ireland Secretary could then ask Parliament to retrospectively extend the 19 January deadline for forming an executive – meaning the parties could return to Stormont without the need for a fresh election.
“We need everybody back in Stormont and what we need is an acceptance for power-sharing to work, you have to be prepared to share power. We also need a democratic acceptance that in order for government to work, you have to come at things in a reasonable frame of mind, and it can’t be a case of my way or the highway, that’s not fair.
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