Taoiseach Micheal Martin appealed directly to Boris Johnson’s government not to ride roughshod over the Northern Ireland Protocol last night.
Micheal Martin was even more direct when he said the British Prime Minister “must abide” by the protocol negotiated with the EU.
The Taoiseach said that now is not the time to abandon EU-UK negotiations and he called for everyone to “steady the ship”.
Proposed new legislation is rumoured to be coming before the House of Commons on Wednesday or Thursday which would give UK ministers “enabling powers” to scrap Protocol rules.
Mr Martin was at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday afternoon.
He told reporters: “I would say that you must abide, and you should abide by international agreements.
“I would have hoped, and I don’t want to become involved in any shape or form in what transpires in internal British politics.
“As far as I’m concerned I’m dealing with the British Prime Minister and I engage with the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and he is the Prime Minister and I have appealed to him consistently to engage with the European Union who have shown flexibility, who will continue to show flexibility.
“And I get a sense that people want a bit of stability, people want to steady the ship.”
Mr Martin added: “I would say to the British government, really it’s not the time to go down the unilateral route, but really to engage substantively with the EU Commission and the issues that have been legitimately raised by unionists and others in terms of the operation of the protocol, without question in my mind, can be resolved.”
Mr Martin added that the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Maros Sefcovic, is still in “solutions mode.”
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