“The EU hasn’t threatened anything, not a trade war and not anything else,” he said. The foreign affairs minister said the conflict in Ukraine made it more important for the EU and UK to work together. “But there is an opportunity, I hope, in the next few days to get this dialogue back on track and to avoid the creation of a lot of unnecessary tension by publishing unilateral legislation that would send headlines around the world that the United Kingdom is deliberately breaking international law and creating huge tension with their closest neighbours, and potentially undermining a peace process by doing that.” “Some of what’s been said this week by various members of the British Cabinet is unhelpful in terms of helping us to get there,” he said. Mr Coveney said there was a “landing zone” around a potential compromise arrangement that would differentiate between goods from Great Britain destined for use in Northern Ireland and those bound for onward transport to the EU single market. “What’s happening at the moment has forced Ireland into taking a much more strident position and responding honestly to the unhelpful briefings that we’re getting from very, very senior levels within the British Government this week, which seems to be laying the groundwork for a decision which, I believe, could be deeply harmful for the relationship between Britain and Ireland, if we don’t see sense in the next few days.” “There are solutions that we can put in place that can ease that concern and that’s what we need to focus on doing together, as opposed to the British Government acting on its own, illegally in a way that doesn’t reflect majority opinion in Northern Ireland and perhaps, most importantly, sends a message to the world that this British Government when it suits them will set aside international law. “There is a minority, a large minority within unionism, who are unhappy with the protocol. “A majority of people in Northern Ireland are in favour of the protocol because they see that it does a reasonable job to manage the disruption of Brexit in the Irish circumstances. “Let’s not forget, this is not only about unionism, of course it needs to be partly about unionism, but a majority of people in Northern Ireland voted against Brexit and would vote against Brexit again in the morning if it was put to them. He told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “What I see at the moment is a British Government making statements and briefing against the EU, and creating a lot of tension in my country, your closest neighbour, and also potentially being on the verge of making a decision that could fundamentally undermine the functioning of the institutions of the peace process in Northern Ireland. Mr Coveney insisted the way to deal with the problems around the protocol was continued dialogue between the EU and UK. He criticised what he described as “sabre rattling” in London and expressed concern that senior figures in the UK Government were laying the groundwork to break international law. He said there would be a “consequence” if the UK walked away from its protocol commitments, but he insisted the EU was not about issuing threats about potential trade wars.

Recent death notices and obituaries from DonegalĬommenting on the prospect of the UK introducing domestic laws to override the protocol, Mr Coveney warned the Government against “legislating unilaterally for the concerns of one community in Northern Ireland”. Read about the latest properties available in DonegalĮnjoy our latest and up to date motoring review and news in Donegal Gaeilge Irish Language Erse Gaelic Donegal Live Donegal Now Donegal Democrat Donegal Post Donegal Peoples Press Finn Valley

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