Arlene Foster said her meeting with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar at the official Irish residence in Notting Hill in south Belfast was “rough”, as she pointed to the fact that East Antrim MP Sammy Wilson was on crutches.
“It was rough in there,” agreed Mr Wilson, while adding in apparent reference to the Taoiseach that an ambulance was on its way “for him”.
In fact, Mr Wilson ended up on crutches after a fall, he explained.
Ms Foster said the meeting was actually “useful and forthright”.
Ms Foster, who was also joined by MPs Jeffrey Donaldson and Emma Little Pengelly, presented Mr Varadkar with a book by east Belfast writer CS Lewis to at least sweeten the initial stages of the meeting.
She said the DUP wanted the Stormont administration back up and running immediately but, referring to Sinn Féin, said “others are preventing it from coming back because of their ever-growing list of demands”.
“Some of their commentary over the past number of months is very hardline; there is no willingness to move from their stated positions. And I think if they are going to continue with that then we won’t have devolution back and that would be a tragedy for all of the people of Northern Ireland.”
Ms Foster agreed with Mr Varadkar that it was important to have the Executive functioning again for the Brexit negotiations while adding that the DUP’s ten MPs were representing all of the people of Northern Ireland on Brexit.
Ms Foster while also saying she wanted the UK out of the EU Customs Union and Single Market repeated that the DUP sought a “sensible Brexit” for the North and South. “I hope that is where we get to,” she said.
No sea border
The DUP leader said the Taoiseach was not seeking to have a border in the Irish Sea. “There have been some very unhelpful interventions from some of his party members but the Taoiseach is very clear that he is not in favour of a border in the Irish Sea.”
While not saying whether she supported Mr Varadkar’s proposals for an EU-UK customs union and the UK rejoining EFTA (the European Free Trade Association), she said the DUP also wanted “practical solutions”.
That could be achieved “not through megaphone diplomacy but actually through getting down to the nitty-gritty of what is needed for Northern Ireland and indeed for the Republic of Ireland as well”.
She said Dublin and Belfast were addressing the detail of trying to achieve a “constructive arrangement”.
Ms Foster said Mr Varadkar’s “pejorative” comments that it wasn’t for the government to “design a border for the Brexiteers” did “not really work for anybody”.
“We should be focusing on solutions and not talking in that sort of terminology”.
But overall, she added, “We are willing to try and find solutions. What we should take away from the meeting was that it was a forthright one, it was a useful one and we will continue the dialogue.”
Ms Foster also said she spoke to Mr Varadkar about the Government releasing intelligence files relating to the 1976 Kingsmill Massacre in which the IRA shot dead ten Protestant workmen.
“We are working with the Taoiseach in relation to those issues. They (the Government) are looking at legislation and they are hoping to meet with the Kingsmill families before the end of the month,” she said.
