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PA

Ireland’s ambassador to the UK urges negotiations to resolve Northern Ireland Protocol row

Martin Fraser said he was an optimist about the chances of resolving the issues around the Protocol.

IRELAND’S AMBASSADOR TO the UK has stressed the need to find a negotiated solution to the problems surrounding Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit arrangements.

Martin Fraser said he was an optimist about the chances of resolving the issues around the Northern Ireland Protocol but the situation was currently in the “words phase” and had to move to the “actions phase”.

The UK government is legislating to effectively tear up parts of the agreement, which sets out how goods flowing from Great Britain to Northern Ireland are treated.

Fraser, speaking at a fringe event at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, said the protocol was the only way to resolve the problems caused by Brexit.

The agreement, signed by then prime minister Boris Johnson’s government, effectively keeps Northern Ireland aligned with many EU single market rules to avoid a hard border with Ireland, therefore requiring some checks on goods crossing the Irish Sea.

Devolution in the region has been in flux since February when the DUP withdrew its first minister from the governing executive in protest at the economic border created in the Irish Sea by the protocol.

Fraser acknowledged there were “legitimate concerns” but said: “How do we solve it? We solve it by negotiating through the issues that are there.

“From our point of view, from the European Union, we solve it by implementing the protocol that was agreed with the British government, which the British government signed and fought an election, passed through Parliament.

“We think it’s the best and only solution. But of course we recognise that people have legitimate issues and we do definitely recognise that the Unionist community in Northern Ireland has legitimate concerns which we have to try and address.

“But we address them by negotiating.”

Asked if he was optimistic about the situation, he said: “I think we have to solve this problem, I think we can, I think we should.”

He added: “I couldn’t have worked on Northern Ireland politics for the best part of 20 years without being optimistic and I think we should all be optimistic.”

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    Mute Skipper Mac
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    Sep 26th 2022, 8:05 AM

    The Protocol (however flawed) has given NI a unique competitive advantage in Europe. Whereas Britain is experiencing negative growth NI is doing the opposite. Scotland and Wales would bite the hand off you to get those advantages. Only the DUP would cut their noses off to spite their face with complete disregard for the economic prosperity for the people they claim to represent.

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    Mute Jason Walsh
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    Sep 26th 2022, 9:15 AM

    @Skipper Mac: DUP won’t be happy until there is a north-south border regardless of the fact that it will be a disaster for the north and south.

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    Mute Steve O'Hara-Smith
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    Sep 26th 2022, 1:35 PM

    @Jason Walsh: What they really want is to saw the North off and tow it to Liverpool.

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    Mute Greedylocks
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    Sep 26th 2022, 7:59 AM

    Until people on the ground are willing to work out their differences it’s pointless telling loyalists they are Irish . Union is a given but at what cost.

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    Mute Angela McCarthy
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    Sep 26th 2022, 2:29 PM

    @Greedylocks: The people on the ground dont have differences. They are governed just like people on the ground are here. They might support different parties, as people on the ground do here. So they are governed or misgoverned, or in the case of the north, the DUP has decided they wont be governed.

    Question then is – Why does the DUP in spite of everything it is doing, insist that a majority will vote in a future referendum to continue with the same? The Union is no more a given than I can drink tea each day from a chocolate teapot.

    If the Union was really a given – the DUP would be calling for a border poll every week!

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    Mute Mark Dawson
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    Sep 26th 2022, 10:51 PM

    @Greedylocks: I agree, you can’t just tell half of the population that they have to give up their identity and possibly the best situation for now would be the North breaking away as an independent state or something, I don’t know I’m no expert but the North is still a very complex situation and like it or not both communities have to be treated fairly

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