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TAOISEACH LEO VARADKAR has said there is a “real possibility” Northern Ireland’s powersharing institutions could return before Christmas or in the New Year.
“For now, it’s still plan A,” he told reporters at the Fine Gael special conference in Kildare this afternoon.
“We still believe it’s possible to have the Executive and Assembly, all institutions of the Good Friday Agreement up and running, perhaps the next few weeks, perhaps in the new year.
“And there are contacts, there are discussions going on behind the scenes at the moment, and they’re making some progress.”
He added: “I’m probably a little bit more encouraged now than maybe I was a few weeks ago, but not by any means complacent about the difficulties that are going to arise.
“And I think the British-Irish Council next week in Dublin, and the (British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference) is an opportunity to further develop that.
“I believe there is a real possibility that we could get the Assembly and Executive up and running again, either before Christmas or in the new year.”
The Northern Ireland Executive collapsed last year when the DUP withdrew from powersharing in protest at post-Brexit trading arrangements between Northern Ireland and Britain.
The DUP has refused to support the return of the Assembly at Stormont until their concerns around the so-called Irish Sea border are addressed.
Next week, the British-Irish Council will meet in Dublin.
Established in 1998 under the Good Friday Agreement, the Council is an intergovernment organisation made up of the Irish and British governments and the devolved administrations of the United Kingdom.
It aims to promote collaboration, dialogue, and cooperation on matters of mutual interest and shared concern.
Additional reporting from Jane Matthews.
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2022 and the aul reliable hot water bottle of the 70s is a must.
@Paul Gorry: Most definitely Paul, I’ve seen long narrow ones the shape of a snake. Very flash. Nothing better than wondering if “tonight” is the night it leaks, bursts, due to age or you wonder if you “relieved” yourself in your sleep.
@Paul Gorry: how did we ever survive or get to school years ago without the government tell us what to do …ohhh i forgot we put on a coat and wellies and where sent to school walking if the buss’s where not running…. suppose we better run out and buy every slice of bread in the country….
@Paul Gorry: definitely on the hot water bottle as well paul i forgot i still have one
@Paul Gorry: If I win the lotto tonight I might even put the electric blanket on
@Dave Ryan: Those of us without wellies would put polythene bags between our socks and shoes. Necessity was definitely the mother of invention back then.
@Paul Gorry: I was an avid believer in the hot water bottle… Till I got a very bad burn from one that saw me&out of the dressing clinic for 6 weeks…. It didn’t burst…while I was sleeping my skin touched an uncovered part for a prolonged period, even though I had a cover on whatever way I moved during the night exposed a bit and I didn’t notice in my sleep, I’m fully healed but literally scarred for life! My friend got me an electric one and it’s been a game changer though!
I can remember the mammy putting coats over the bed when it was really freezing cold, we didn’t have duvets back then, so it was fresh crisp sheets & the blankets with an iderdown ( if you were lucky)
@Colette Kearns: Remember it so well collette. Use to be murder in my house on who got the duffel coats thrown on the bed.
@Colette Kearns: also remember the frozen condensation on inside of single glazing in the mornings, we would write our names in it then around 10am after fire lit, we would go around and wipe water of inside window sills. Council House in the 70s.
@Colette Kearns: I remember the eiderdown , and the coats….and waking up to see ice patterns on the inside of the windows. We used to go to bed in our school uniforms so we’d not get hypothermia getting dressed in the mornings.
@Colette Kearns: I remember we only had 1 rubber hot water bottle, so glass bottles were used wrapped in clothes or a towel. Screw cap wine bottles were good, don’t use boiling water obviously and warm the bottle before pouring in the water in any case.
@SPQH: if you could afford bottles of wine you weren’t that poor. Get off the band wagon lol
@Barry Evans: You’re assuming the person that drank the bottle of wine bought it. We currently have 9 bottles of wine sitting in our utility. We didn’t buy a single one of them – all 9 were presents. THAT is how it is possible to be poor and still have wine bottles in the house.
@Mirabelle Stonegate: having rich friends?
@SPQH: Ah yes the memories. We didn’t have hot water bottles so my mam filled glass bottles with hot water and put a sock over it. Blissfully warm in bed.
Heat my school uniform over electric fire in the morning before putting it on. Great memories.
@Colette Kearns: oh! We had duvets in the sixties… They even had pockets and buttons, LOLS… Ahhh yeah! Life was so much simpler then.
@Mirabelle Stonegate: I’d say you’re great craic at a party all the same with that sense of humour and keen eye for a bit of harmless sarcasm
Advice all very well if you have a house to live in…
@Jane Alford: So they shouldn’t have given any advice?
@Jane Alford:
We did not have a house, we lived in a hole in the ground…
@Gerry Dornan: At least ye had a hole in the ground. We didn’t have ground so we lived in our imagination
@Gerry Dornan: You know Jane is homeless at the moment & living in her car!
@Jane Alford: most councils have activated their cold weather protocol for homeless people
Ya the official 11k plus homeless people but not the other 40 or 50k of us that can’t even get on a homeless list. The majority of homeless people have zero state support.
@Mindyourown: Brilliant
Beer,wood,coal,netflix.sausages
@Lee Casey: new vocabulary Father Jack
@Lee Casey: In that order?
@Lee Casey: and the Brennan’s slice pan too!
Opening the attic door is a strange piece of advice… If your roof isn’t insulated, you’ll freeze. And waste your central heating.
Don’t make any unnecessary journeys and fill the freezer with Brennans sliced pans..
@Seamus Quaide: And toilet paper.
@Stephen Deegan: just had the image of trying to wipe my back side with frozen toilet paper lol
@Jim Buckley Barrett: or a slice of Brennan’s bread?
@Stephen Deegan: but not in the freezer, just the bread
Please drive safely. A flash downpour of hailstones last week resulted in carnage on the M50 within a few minutes. Unlike Scandinavian countries, our vehicles aren’t equipped for the ice and snow. Gently does it,and if not absolutely necessary, postpone your journey.
Wonder will any local roads be gritted in Meath
@Peter Cuthbert: Unlikely
Don’t forget to follow the public broadcast announcement and turn off your heat from 5-7.
@ChadChaderson: And just when was ANYTHING like that announced? And just WHAT is a ‘public broadcast announcement’?
@ChadChaderson: eh I think that’s tumble dryers, not heating.But keep stirring
I once got a top tip from a guy used to living in cold houses, namely, wear two trousers, it’s a game changer.
@George Murphy: any hiker or camper will tell you a hat makes all the difference
@George Murphy: I find tucking the bottom of the trousers into the socks work well also.
@Dawn Harvey: I didn’t sleep well a couple of nights this week. Turned out, it was because the top of my head was too cold. Normally when that happens, I get all stuffy and snuffly, so it reminds me to put on my woolly hat that I have for bed. Didn’t think of it, when I wasn’t stuffy etc, but once I did, I slept so much better!
@George Murphy: leggings under trousers are super cosy.
Don’t forget to only use you appliances off peak hours. That will keep you warm. A message from the lettuce party
Yellow ice warning, black ice warning, ice warning and yellow wind alert when did ice , snow, rain and wind evolve into all this
The forecast is actually normal for this time of year. The real story is how warm it has been.
A tip for the ladies. Find your husband quilted shirts. Wash them and use plenty of fabric conditioner, lastly, confiscate them and wear them yourself. It’s SO warm, like wearing a 13.5 tog duvet lol.
@Anna Carr: we won’t need them in the pub lol your welcome to them
Don’t make unnecessary journeys. Don’t take risks on treacherous roads!
Whoever wrote this article must have been just trying to keep the owl hands warm
I slept in the backseat of the car the other night, now that is cold on another level
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