The British minister of state for Northern Ireland Steve Baker has apologised for failing to understand the Irish Government’s concerns during Brexit negotiations, in comments which have been welcomed by Coalition figures.
While Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he believed there was a genuine willingness on the part of the UK government to resolve issues around the Northern Ireland protocol, Mr Baker told a Conservative party conference that work was needed to repair the relationship between both sides.
”I am really sorry about that because relations with Ireland are not where they should be,” Mr Baker said.
Mr Baker, the former chair of the European Research Group, also revealed he had apologised in person to leading Irish figures in recent times and said he felt like “the ice thawing”.
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“As one of the people who perhaps acted with the most ferocious determination to get the UK out of the EU, I think we have to bring some humility to this situation,” he said.
“And it’s with humility that I want to accept and acknowledge that I and others did not always behave in a way which encouraged Ireland and the European Union to trust us to accept that they have interests, legitimate interests, that we’re willing to respect – because they do and we are willing to respect them.
“And I’m sorry about that. Because relations with Ireland are not where they should be, and we all need to work extremely hard to improve them. And I know that we are doing so,” he added.
He said that the death of Queen Elizabeth “gave us an opportunity to meet leading Irish figures, and I said that to some of them. ‘I am sorry that we did not always respect your legitimate interests.’
“And I hope they won’t mind me saying I felt the ice thawing a bit.”
‘Honest meeting’
Senior Government figures privately gave a cautious welcome to the statement, with one senior source saying “the mood in the room has changed”.
A spokesperson for Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said: “The Minister had a strong and honest meeting with the secretary of state for Northern Ireland [last week] and it’s in this spirit we go to London for this week’s British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference. Minister Coveney and vice-president [Maros] Sefcovic have been in contact throughout and we are certain that, with genuine negotiation, the problems between the UK and the EU on the implementation of the protocol can be overcome.”
Fine Gael TD Neale Richmond said the intervention from Mr Baker, while surprising, had to be welcomed.
“Mr Baker is an unashamed hard Brexiteer who has said some downright awful and false things through the Brexit process, particularly about Ireland, but this statement is a good thing.
“I really hope this is a sincere and genuine attempt to mend fences so we can all work to bring relations back to a much better point,” Mr Richmond said.
“There is an opportunity at the moment to both reset relations between Ireland and the UK as well as to get agreement on the implementation of the protocol.
“We are collectively facing so many global challenges and there is no need to cause further anguish with a continued standoff over the protocol.”
Protocol deadlock
It came as Mr Martin said he detected a genuine wish from British prime minister Liz Truss to resolve the deadlock over the Northern Ireland protocol.
Mr Martin said there was a need for the EU and UK to now enter a process to negotiate a settlement over the post-Brexit trading arrangements.
“I had a positive and warm meeting with Liz Truss when we met the weekend of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth,” he told RTÉ.
“I did, to be fair, detect a genuine engagement and a wish to get this issue resolved.
“I think she would prefer a negotiated solution and the subsequent meeting between Liz Truss and Ursula von der Leyen went well also. And I think in many respects it’s about getting this into a process between the European Union and the United Kingdom to get this issue resolved once and for all, not least because of the issues: the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis.
“Europe and the United Kingdom need to be acting together on that. Really the protocol should not be an issue causing that degree of distress in the relationship between the European Union and the United Kingdom.”
Officials from London and Brussels are set to hold discussions on the outstanding issues following a call on Friday between Britain’s foreign secretary James Cleverly and Mr Sefcovic.
Last week, Ms Truss said she remained open to a negotiated solution.
Despite this, she issued a warning she would act unilaterally to address problems with the protocol through domestic legislation at Westminster, in the event that a deal with Brussels was not effective.
