DUP MP SAMMY Wilson has said Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has “cheek” after he yesterday said “alternatives” and a “Plan B” will need to be considered if Stormont is not restored by the autumn.
Varadkar was in Belfast yesterday to meet with the main political parties of Northern Ireland in a bid to help restore Stormont.
Northern Ireland has been without a functioning government for more than a year amid unionist concerns around post-Brexit trading arrangements.
Varadkar reiterated the “pressing need” to get the Stormont institutions in place again “without delay” and has met with Sinn Féin’s vice president Michelle O’Neill, the DUP’s Jeffrey Donaldson, and the UUP’s Doug Beattie.
He also sat down with Alliance Party leader Naomi Long and the SDLP’s Matthew O’Toole.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Varadkar said there is an opportunity to restore the region’s institutions in the autumn.
He said the Irish Government “will do everything we can to assist that”.
“I do think, though, that if that opportunity is missed, if it’s the case that the institutions can’t be re-established in the autumn, well, then I do think at that point we have to start having conversations about alternatives, about plan B.
“That’s very much a conversation that I’m keen to have with the UK Government. I don’t want to speculate too much at the moment, because I still believe it is possible to get the institutions up and running in the autumn,” he said.
“I do think the suspension has gone on for a long time. There is drift. And that’s not good for Northern Ireland.”
"It's nothing to do with him."
— Sky News (@SkyNews) August 10, 2023
DUP's Sammy Wilson MP says Ireland Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has "cheek" after he said a "plan B needs to be thought about" on talks to return to a power-sharing agreement in Northern Ireland.https://t.co/PAiZ4D1jU3
📺 Sky 501 pic.twitter.com/974OEWWphs
In an interview with Sky News today, DUP MP Sammy Wilson said he thinks it’s “a cheek for the head of a government adjacant to us, a foreign government, to demand action on the internal affairs of Northern Ireland”.
“It’s nothing to do with him,” Wilson said.
“He’s the Taoiseach of a foreign country and what happens in the United Kingdom is the responsibility of the government in the United Kingdom,” he said.
Wilson added: “It may be a neighbouring country but it is a country which is partly responsible for the situation in Northern Ireland because of the unreasonable demands that were made during the Brexit negotiations by the Irish Government, and indeed the insistence of the Irish Government, had on us following a path which led to the impasse which we have at present.”
The DUP MP said the return of power-sharing “can be sorted out tomorrow if the UK Government decides it is going to stand up for Britain, ensure the unity of the United Kingdom and is going to ensure there are no checks put on movements of goods between Northern Ireland and GB and GB and Northern Ireland and there is going to be no more interference in the form of foreign law in our part of the United Kingdom”.
TUV leader Jim Allister tweeted that he does not “see the value” in other unionist leaders “habilitating” Varadkar and his “continuing meddling”.
Considering Varadkar’s conspiratorial role in foisting the Union-dismantling Protocol on NI, I do not see the value in other unionist leaders (or Linfield FC) habilitating him and his continuing meddling.
— Jim Allister (@JimAllister) August 9, 2023
Varadkar said yesterday that “if the Good Friday Agreement isn’t working, if institutions aren’t functioning, well, then it makes sense that the British and Irish governments work together to talk about what arrangements could be put in place”.
Speaking more generally, Varadkar said the very close relationship between the Irish and British governments that existed in the past was disrupted by Brexit and “wasn’t good” for years, but has “improved dramatically and immeasurably” in the past year or so.
He added it still is not where it should be and that Northern Ireland works best when Britain and Ireland work “hand in hand”.
Speaking after her meeting with Varadkar, Sinn Féin vice president Michelle O’Neill said “public patience is wearing thin” with the DUP over the lack of a functioning executive in Northern Ireland.
She said she agreed with the Taoiseach that the British and Irish governments need to be working together to revive the executive.
“I’ve heard more urgency from the Taoiseach today than I’ve heard from the British Government in terms of the need to restore the executive,” O’Neill said.
DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson described his meeting with Varadkar as “very useful”.
With reporting by Jane Matthews and Press Association
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