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LAST UPDATE | 31 Jan 2021
TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN has said he still has confidence in the president of the European Commission despite the dispute over the Northern Ireland Protocol, but that “mistakes were made”.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio One’s This Week, Martin said that Ireland, the EU and the UK have agreed to work together on the protocol to address “teething issues” that arose after the Commission moved to trigger a clause that would prevent a potential flow of vaccines into Northern Ireland from the EU.
After invoking Article 16 to stop the unimpeded flow of vaccines from the European bloc into Northern Ireland, the EU later backtracked, following condemnation from Dublin, London and Belfast.
It is understood that a compromise will see vaccines crossing between the Republic and Northern Ireland being recorded in Dublin, but will not be at risk of being blocked.
Despite the discord, Martin said he still has faith in EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“I’ve had a very good personal engagement with the president of the Commission but mistakes were made here,” he said.
“We’ve made the point that there needs to be engagement on all fronts to dealing with those issues in terms of the smooth operation of the protocol.”
Martin also said that he does not foresee a poll on a united Ireland in the next five years.
“Brexit has created its own consequences and impact in terms of what may happen in Scotland, and my own view I was very anxious to avoid conflating Brexit with the island of Ireland issue in terms of unity,” he said.
He added that the idea of an immediate border poll is “too divisive”.
“Right now I think more the important aspect is to fulfill the potential of the Good Friday Agreement, and in that context, a poll of that kind was always meant to be the end of a process of building up full reconciliation and understanding, and I don’t think we’ve optimized the potential of the agreement enough.”
Speaking to the BBC earlier today, the Taoiseach has said he was given no advance notice of the intention by the EU to trigger Article 16 of the Brexit protocol.
Martin said he first heard about the move in a public statement, and quickly started negotiations with von der Leyen.
Martin told the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show: “I had a number of conversations with President von der Leyen and, in the aftermath of those, I also spoke, of course, to the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and we discussed the implications of all of this, and the importance of getting a resolution by the close of that evening, Friday evening, and thankfully the Commission did issue a statement pulling back and reversing its decision.”
On the EU-AstraZeneca row, Irish PM Micheal Martin says, "the Commission took the wrong mechanism in invoking Article 16 and the Protocol to deal with it"#Marr https://t.co/ctZYEiCih2 pic.twitter.com/iufoibpVdK
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) January 31, 2021
Northern Ireland’s First Minister Arlene Foster described the move by the EU as an “act of hostility” and has urged Johnson to replace the “unworkable” protocol.
Martin disagreed with that assessment, and instead described it as a row between the EU and AstraZeneca.
He stressed that it took four years to negotiate the protocol to facilitate access for Northern Ireland’s economy to the single market as well as to the UK market, and to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.
The Taoiseach said: “It’s a good thing, the protocol, overall. There are issues there that we have to fine-tune and work out, but essentially I think there are positives there medium term for Northern Ireland in terms of its economic development which we should not underestimate.
“We are only four weeks into the operation of the protocol, there are bound to be teething problems, but I do acknowledge the need for engagement here on all sides, between the European Union, the United Kingdom and the Irish Government, and the Northern Ireland Executive.”
Meanwhile, Martin said there is a “strong sense across Europe” that AstraZeneca has not delivered on commitments around the vaccination.
“There’s a very fair point there which cannot be brushed aside, the problem is the Commission took the wrong mechanism in invoking Article 16 of the protocol to deal with it,” he said.
“What has gone wrong is clearly that the commitments made in terms of volume levels are not being realised in terms of the contractual engagement between the Commission and AstraZeneca.
“The same type of tensions do not appear to have arisen in relation to the other companies.”
Martin also called for calm in relation to the rollout of vaccines.
Discussions on the rollout of the vaccines in Ireland has come hand in hand with questions about when Ireland will begin to reopen, particularly around the return of schools.
Martin told RTÉ that there is no definite timeline on the return of schools, but that the plan is to have a phased return of school starting at primary level, with priority placed on the return of special education.
An announcement on the Leaving Certificate might come this week, Martin said, but that what was more important was making sure the ‘Is are dotted and Ts are crossed’ before confirming a decision.
Martin said he understood the need to bring “clarity” to “reduce anxiety and reduce stress for students and their families”.
He said he did not foresee major reopening of society on 5 March, with a “conservative and cautious” approach to be taken on any loosening of restrictions.
Certain sectors, such as education and construction, would be prioritised, while hospitality would wait longer, he noted.
The Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA) has welcomed the Taoiseach’s comments on vaccines.
“We all want a way out of the pandemic. We want a route back to normality or, at least, some version of it.
“There are more than 50 Covid-19 vaccine candidates in clinical trials. So far, the European Medicines Agency has approved three safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines, with more due for assessment shorty,” an IPHA spokesperson said.
They added that manufacturing sites “should not face restrictions”.
“The establishment by the European Commission of an export authorisation system for Covid-19 vaccines could jeopardise their supply to people in Europe and around the world.
“Introducing export obstructions could severely limit manufacturers’ capacity to meet global demand.
“Vaccine manufacturers are scaling production at unprecedented speed. Sometimes, things can go wrong. Fluctuations in the supply of doses, though frustrating, can be a feature of manufacturing complex biological products. But companies are working as fast as they can to protect everyone,” a statement noted.
With reporting by Órla Ryan and Lauren Boland
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The funniest part is where it says “should Chinese export approval be achieved “ do they know what they are getting. They should be begging us to deal with them. We are leagues ahead of everyone for the quality beef and lamb we produce. In a starving world for the huge nation of China to think they can come in and see if we meet their standards is insulting. They should come in and we tell them what to pay take it or leave it. The farmers should also be able to say how much and not Kepak. Brexit is on our doorsteps. We don’t want to be in a crappy deal after that lands.
@Martin McFly: The Chineese are good at making chips but I am not sure if they could eat them
@Martin McFly: The Chinese population is 1.4 billion people. We have 5 million. It’s not a good idea to tell the country that could hover up the entire production of sheep meat in Ireland in one fell swoop as to how to go about their business.
China is the worlds 3rd largest importer of sheep meat and we are the worlds 5th largest exporter. The UK is 2nd in that category. With Brexit, we need other markets to rely on. If we were relying on your attitude the Chinese would turn around and tell us to piss off.
BTW what country buys any goods form anyone else without first seeing how they are produced. A lot of retailers over the years did this and it came back to bite them in the ass when it emerged that the £50 shirts they were selling were made by workers in sweatshops on £1 an hour.
@CBD HeavenSent: Hitherto, China have a model of producing at minimal cost without any regard for human rights, animal rights or the environment. This has been proven true in their past envoys. They often copy production systems and just make products themselves at home or elsewhere. With the ridiculously high standards we have in beef and dairy farms in europe, why do we even entertain the Chinese? Leave it to the US, UK, etc.
@Monty Donotno: Well why don’t you go up to the farmers and their families whose livelihoods depend on Chinese exports and tell them that they shouldn’t be selling their product to the Chinese.
There’s a bunch of farmers outside that meat plant in Roscommon so wander up there and tell them that they should stop feeding the Chinese lads and find another way to earn an income for their families.
Let me know how you get on.
@CBD HeavenSent: most sensible arguement I have heard on this topic in a long time. This is the real world after all.
@CBD HeavenSent: what do you think they’ll say? The way the Irish produce their beef is below standard. We’ll have to go somewhere else. Nope son. They need every bit. As cheap as they can get it, and all of Britain’s too post Brexit. That doesn’t put us in the weaker position at the table. They don’t get to make the call on how much. They need the product, we can always find and will always find new customers. Having been in business for over 20 years , dealt with, and been to China they do things their way. Sub-standard, few regulations,and massive greed at the top. Companies working for a communist regime and give peanuts back to the people. So yes, tell them what we want for our rare, superior product … or get the boat.
@Martin McFly: Depending in how low the GBP goes, it might be very hard to compete with Britain on price. China doesn’t ‘need’ beef/lamb, they ‘want’ beef/lamb. If British standards equal ours (as they probably do thanks to the EU), and the Yen ends up with more purchasing power in Britain than Ireland it’ll get pretty hard to convince them to buy our meat, never mind getting to demand a price.
@CBD HeavenSent: no need for the small minded “why don’t you go up there and tell them..” Why would I? I’m making the point, we produce a high cost product, and the Chinese in general want a race to the bottom like much of the world in price and ultimately quality. I’m not an anti-trade communist or something.
A great bunch of lads.
Irish meat is v.expensive in the shops now. I was trying out chicken for a long while but you get tired of that. I try to mimimize meat intake partly because i feel it is over-priced. Meat is expensive and farmers have a point….
@Aire Dezamba: If you think that it’s too expensive then try producing it yourself and see how you get on, looking forward to hearing from you.
@John Mc Donagh: why would she try to produce it?
@Cormac Ó Braonáin: Yes, producing a chicken of your own would be terribly expensive.
@Kieran Woods: you did catch that she was using the chicken example as an expense relief, yeah!?
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