Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has expressed frustration at the lack of leadership at the head of the British government and the constant change of personnel in the Northern Ireland Office in recent years.
While he stressed that the Irish Government would not be taking sides as the contest to become the next leader of the Conservative party and British prime minister continues, and would “work with whoever’s elected”, the Republic is looking for “stability” across the Irish Sea and in Northern Ireland.
He said the absence of a “solid and consistent and predictable leadership coming from the top which, unfortunately, we haven’t had” is hampering efforts to build “a good strong relationship with the UK”.
Mr Coveney said that, since he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs five years ago, there had been “six secretaries of state for Northern Ireland, five foreign secretaries and four prime ministers and that is a recipe for instability”.
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He said the constant changing of leaders had made it “difficult to build the kind of relationships that are needed to build trust so that we can find a way of agreeing compromises together on difficult and complex issues like the Northern Ireland protocol and how to implement it”.
Mr Coveney said that while the Government was agnostic on who would be the next British prime minister, what the Republic needs is “stability and certainty around who we’re working with. So that we can try to work with the European Union, to find a way of settling some of the post-Brexit questions that have gone on for far too long and unfortunately may well trigger a completely unnecessary election in Northern Ireland in a week’s time”.
Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week programme, Mr Coveney said it was “unfortunate” that there is so much uncertainty as to the future direction the British government would take, as “the relationship between the current Secretary of State [for Northern Ireland] Chris Heaton-Harris, and Steve Baker [minister of state for NI] who has been supporting him in Northern Ireland, and my office has been very good in the last number of weeks”.
Referring to the DUP, he said: “They want the problems of the protocol as they see it resolved before they facilitate the re-establishment of an Executive in Northern Ireland. The problem with that position is that it is impossible to solve the problems of the protocol between now and next Friday because there isn’t a prime minister that can make the necessary decisions to work with the EU to do that.
“So the DUP are effectively staying out of, of government in Northern Ireland. They’re potentially triggering an election next Friday on the back of an ask that can’t be delivered in that timescale.”
