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LAST UPDATE | 20 May 2022
MICHEÁL MARTIN HAS said there is “no substitute” for negotiations between the European Union and the UK Government to resolve issues with the Northern Ireland Protocol.
An Taoiseach was speaking in Belfast following meetings with political and business leaders.
He said: “There is no substitute for a substantive series of negotiations between the European Union and the United Kingdom Government in respect of solving issues in relation to the protocol.
“We accept legitimate issues have been raised, but it is our view that they can be resolved.”
The DUP is currently blocking the re-establishment of Stormont’s power-sharing Executive in protest at the Northern Ireland Protocol and has also prevented the Assembly from sitting because it cannot elect a Speaker without DUP support.
Martin said he had an interesting meeting with the Brexit business working group where he heard of “the many beneficial impacts of the protocol on many sectors” of the Northern Irish economy.
“We believe there can be a resolution of issues around the protocol, but the only way to do that is through a negotiated settlement.”
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin’s northern leader Michelle O’Neill “very much welcomes” US Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s intervention in a row over the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Pelosi said the US Congress will not support a free trade agreement with the UK if the Government persists with “deeply concerning” plans to “unilaterally discard” the protocol, urging “constructive, collaborative and good faith negotiations” in order to uphold peace.
“They’ve [US Congress] made it very clear that there will be no trade deal with Britain if they undermine the Good Friday Agreement,” the Sinn Fein vice-president said as she visited Scotland’s First Minister in Edinburgh today.
“Those statements are very, very important because we have to protect the Good Friday Agreement.
“The protocol provides us some mitigation against the worst impact of Brexit – the hardest possible Brexit that’s been delivered by Boris Johnson in London and the DUP partners in Belfast.”
Speaking to reporters after he met with Martin, DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said he held a “useful meeting” with An Taoiseach this afternoon and that his party is not interested in a “sticking plaster approach” to the Protocol standoff.
“We are not interested in a sticking plaster approach, or tinkering around the edges, it has to be fundamental change which respects Northern Ireland’s place within the UK internal market and nothing short of that will suffice,” he said.
We have had what I would describe as a useful meeting with the Taoiseach, we spelled it out very clearly to him the problems with the protocol, the harm it is doing to Northern Ireland and that we need a solution, we need decisive action to deal with these problems.
Both Sinn Féin and the UUP have said that Executive should be able to operate in parallel with talks between the UK and EU but Donaldson appeared cool on that suggestion today.
“My understanding is that the (UK) government will bring forward the legislation early in June. We will note what the legislation says and we will take decisions based on the progress that is made,” he said.
We were very clear we would not enter the institutions until the issues around the Protocol are dealt with, I never said that was limited to the executive. I want the institutions to operate as soon as possible but I am not going to telegram to the government what I am going to do until we see what this legislation says, that is fundamentally important.
In a statement last night, Donaldson had said that: “Dublin must belatedly recognise that if nothing is fixed then there will be no progress.”
Speaking on BBC’s Good Morning Ulster programme today, Martin said that “in the democratic world” people should attend parliament.
“I think most people would agree that, in the democratic world, when people vote for the representatives and vote to elect to parliament, the first thing that should happen is that that Parliament should convene. It’s unheard of in the democratic world that the parliament would not convene in the aftermath of an election,” he said.
UUP
Following a meeting with An Taoiseach today, UUP leader Doug Beattie said they had had “a frank discussion” over the Protocol and the proposed “landing zone”.
It is expected that the UK is planning unilateral action to introduce separate “green” and “red” lanes for goods travelling between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The different lanes would draw a distinction between goods destined to stay within the UK and those heading to the Republic of Ireland and beyond.
Speaking today, Beattie said that there should be “no requirement” to check goods that come from Great Britain to Northern Ireland if they are staying in Northern Ireland.
He also suggested that while it could be a lengthy process to revive the Stormont Executive, the Assembly could restart in a limited way in a shorter period of time.
“I get a sense that this legislation, this unilateral action will probably be laid before Parliament in the first two weeks of June, and that may be enough for a (Stormont) speaker then to be nominated, and that allows us to do limited work… and what happens after that will depend on whether or not the DUP get the Executive up and running,” he said.
I welcome that An Taoiseach @MichealMartinTD is in Belfast today to engage the parties. I was glad to have met him earlier. The Irish Government has a critical stewardship role as a co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement & all GFA institutions must be up & going without delay.
— Michelle O’Neill (@moneillsf) May 20, 2022
Advances
During his appearance on the BBC, Martin said there had been “significant advances” from the European Commission on a range of issues in relation to the Protocol but he accused the British government of repeatedly “moving the goalposts”.
“Both governments must work hand in glove together with the parties in Northern Ireland,” he said.
I believe that the current UK government has moved too far in a unilateral way on a range of issues, be it legacy issues, be it the Protocol, and in my view that is not fully in accordance with the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement, which involves collaboration and working together.
Since the UK government announced that it is planning to introduce legislation to unilaterally change parts of the Protocol agreed between the EU and UK, concerns have been raised by both Irish, European and US politicians.
Earlier today, Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney met with Truss in Turin where he detailed “Ireland’s opposition to the U.K. breaching international law” with their plan to unilaterally alter the Protocol.
Coveney called for the UK to go back into talks with the EU and to avoid taking unilateral action and “damaging international relations”
I met @trussliz in Turin. I made clear Ireland’s opposition to the U.K. breaching international law.
— Simon Coveney (@simoncoveney) May 20, 2022
The UK needs to get back to talks with the EU. pic.twitter.com/ZQwLAtz8Dv
Irish officials have said that they do not expect an instant reaction from the European Commission if unilateral action is taken and have instead pushed for talks between the EU and UK to continue.
- With reporting by PA
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I’ve said many times, will keep saying it: corporations like Meta are NOT your friend in any way.
@Daniel Skelton: I don’t think anyone ever has thought of a corporation as their friend… When was the last time you went for a coffee with a corporation?
@Kev Barnes: True, but I consider ones like Meta to be the lowest of the low. You can’t get any lower than them.
@Kev Barnes: you’ve never seen someone scrolling of Facebook in a café?
@Daniel Skelton: good man Daniel does that mean other corporates are?
@Daniel Skelton: TikTok is even lower than meta is it has been created specially to make our youth dumber.
It should be 100% banned.
@mani mus: I have.. But that doesn’t make your phone your friend
@Kev Barnes: Our leaders do it all the time.
@Kev Barnes: Badum-tsshh
You should be over the age of 18 to own a smart phone. They are one of the greatest scourges to enter society and I’m not being over dramatic when I say that. They allow bullying of kids to continue at all times, they give kids incorrect perceptions of their image and create very harmful addictions.
It is frightening how many parents give kids as young as 6 or 7 unfiltered access to some of the worst aspects of society.
No access, no problem.
If you think your child needs a phone to contact you, then buy a non-smartphone.
But an entire ban would take peer pressure out of the equation.
Ban the sale of advertising on the internet and this problem will vanish.
All the social media companies depend on advertising and use addictive interfaces to drive up “engagement” and numbers so that they can charge more for advertising.
@Steve O’Hara-Smith: Good idea, would go further and ban data minning too.
@Thesaltyurchin: Harder to define but yes indeed.
You could probably add some adults to that as well.
@Jb Walshe: like you?
There should be a new poll…Do Irish judges attend Andrew Tate seminars? To give a man a clap on the back for attacking a women that he admitted to….the wheel is rolling backwards.
An outright ban is needed until 18 years of age. Also social media should not allow the posting of so called news links or any links of that matter. It used to be about photos, sharing of nights out and socialising and sharing memories.. Politics, Screwing with our children’s minds was not part of it.. or screwing with adults minds for that matter.
@Roman Walczak Sadlowski: Outright ban wont solve anything. The social media companies, specifically X, Meta and Snap need to ensure anonymous accounts are not possible. If you want a social media account you need to provide proof of identification. As soon as all these cowards online hiding behind their keyboard know there is attribution behind every one of their posts it will stop overnight. Literally within 24 hours harrassment, doxxing, bullying, far-right nonsense, fake news and video posts etc will cease.
Society is doing a bang up job of doing the damage already without social media. The current and next generation will have some mess to clean up from the damage thats been done and I dont evny them.
But not quite as much as the current government are.
It’s so sad to see a group of teenage friends together just looking at their phones….no messing about, talking, slagging or laughter. My teen years in the early 90s were spent talking with friends and others my age, about everything and nothing, getting bored, slagging each other off, arguing and making up again…walking for hours or sitting around.
No child under 13 needs a phone. As a parent it is hard, but you have to lay down the law and say
No. My 12 year old has no phone, as I have told him his friends all live in our estate, he can walk over to them if he needs to talk.
Just behind substance abuse
@Argus Romsworth: Reckon if you count the profits (lets no pretend that anything else matters here) that tech bros are making way more than the narcos.
Not a hope of any action here. Money and profit is what our society value, child/people’s welfare are only considered if it doesn’t affect the bottom line. Have you not scene all the betting companies concern for problem gambling . If your winning your account is restricted, if your losing, bet away.
They are very addictive. An addiction is only bad news.
@JP: Facebook was designed by psychologists to be addictive, that’s the main reason it crushed Bebo, MySpace etc.
Most of the most mentally unstable people i see on social media these days are 40+. The ones harrassing td’s and guards and librarians and such.
Least we forget, THIS is a social media space.
You can say ‘ban smartphones’ until you’re blue in the face – gen z (hope I got that right) life revolves around social platforms – I had an argument with a friend back in 2018 about the detrimental effects this behaviour would have as I had been reading articles on it – basically they stated that the young ones wouldn’t know how to adapt to social situations, that they wouldn’t be able to decipher facial expressions, body language.
It’s not just about the bullying aspect, it reaches far deeper. Images on social media are heavily filtered and, especially for girls, can make them feel insecure and lack confidence in comparison to what they see on screen.
It was hard enough for me growing up, I was bullied but it was in person, was dealt with, the end. Online is endless.
Stop bullying kids by dumping anxiety on them.
https://climatekids.nasa.gov/kids-guide-to-climate-change/
The June Solstice happens today, and the Green party, rather than run with experimental theorists who imagine climate is one thing as long-term weather, teaches students that Ireland has a maritime climate as one topic among many within the Earth science of climate.
I never mind those who try to throw their weight around in the comments as though this is a schoolyard. I need adults in the room and in the Journal.
@Gerald Kelleher: Nooooo! The winters coming
@Gerald Kelleher: they left out the elnino effect in the climate change guide.
@Gerald Kelleher: I really wish researchers in social science hadn’t started using the term “climate anxiety” when surveying young people. Psychologists don’t want that term used. The vast majority of young people and children who report concerns about climate change in these studies do not have anxiety. Anxiety is complicated and it is generally rooted in the child’s early childhood experiences and the attachment styles of those who care for them. You could stop telling children that carbon emissions trap radiation tomorrow and I doubt it would have any impact on the numbers of children being treated for anxiety. I don’t care about the models. There are many excellent reasons to clean up our act and pursue renewable energy resources that don’t require you to buy into global warming. Young people are rightfully concerned about how human actions are impacting our environment. They aren’t mad, we are polluting the planet at a rate that can’t possibly be good, we have volumes of hard evidence demonstrating the mounting negative consequences to humans (children in particular) and we should stop.
@Sill Scoundrel: At last, a reasonable person even if climate research covers many topics.
The environmental party should protect society from academics looking for funding while supplying hysteria.
I absolutely love social media
Not as big a threat as the scary wary pilots!
have your say