The Taoiseach is in Belfast today to meet politicians and business leaders as efforts continue to break the Stormont impasse over the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Micheál Martin will meet party leaders for talks and will host a delegation from the business community.
The DUP is refusing to restore power-sharing until its concerns about the protocol are addressed.
The British Government has said it is prepared to legislate to set aside parts of the protocol in the coming weeks unless it can reach a compromise with the EU.
The EU has cautioned against such a move.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke to the Taoiseach yesterday.
She later said Ireland and the EU were “on the same page” and that international agreements could not be “disapplied unilaterally”.
“The UK needs to work with us to find joint, workable solutions,” she said.
Yesterday, Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said that the UK would lose out on a free trade deal with the US if it chose to undermine the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said that for two-and-a-half years unionist politicians had been voicing opposition to the protocol and there would have to be change before there could be progress.
“There is a great prize of stable devolution if we can remove the dark shadow of the protocol from our politics.
“The current protocol is incompatible with the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. The Irish Government can’t have both,” he said.
Today’s talks with the Taoiseach follow talks at the start of the weeks between the parties and the British Prime Minister Boris Johnston.
Article Source – Taoiseach in Belfast to meet political and business leaders – Conor Macauley – RTE
