NI Minister tells DUP to ‘choke down’ compromise

Taoiseach says UK remains an important Irish trade partner

Northern Ireland Minister Steve Baker has urged the Democratic Unionist Party to “choke down” its position on refusing to engage with the devolved institutions in the North.

Northern Ireland remains without a devolved government in Stormont as a result of unionist concern over the post-Brexit trading agreement, meaning it has not been possible to form a ministerial executive since last May’s Assembly election.

A six-month legislative deadline to form an administration will expire this coming Friday, October 28. If no executive is in place by that date the British Government has warned it will call another General Election, with December 15 the likely date.

Before speaking at the British-Irish Assembly meeting at the Farnham Estate in Cavan, Minister Baker said people living in Northern Ireland could “expect” to return to the polls unless the DUP decides to reform the Stormont Executive. But speaking to gathered assembly members inside, it was his opinion that another election would be a waste of money that could be better spent elsewhere.

He also stated that a further potential cost was that parties such as Sinn Féin might extend their previous political gain should there be another election so soon after DUP lost its leading place in Assembly.

“They (DUP) should count on us to negotiate with humility and resolve, recognising everyone’s interests, trying to get a deal that works for us all.

“If the DUP accept that and find it within themselves to choke down the position they have taken, just get into the Executive and do it this week, we can avoid an election which would waste time and money that could be better spent elsewhere.”

Misrepresented

It is, Minister Baker stated, “incumbent” on all parties to form an Executive as soon as possible, whilst stating that his comments in an interview at the weekend about the upcoming anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement in April 2023 had been “perhaps, misrepresented”.

“It's a wonderful agreement and we are all resolutely committed to it, but the point I want everyone to understand is that it is going to be difficult to see how (US) president (Joe) Biden will be coming to the island of Ireland to rejoice that agreement if we fail to sort out the protocol.

“We need to respect everyone's legitimate interests and move forward together as friends.”

Karin Smyth, Labour MP for Bristol South, whose father hails from Arva and moved to work in London in the 1950s, asked Minister Baker what “Plan B” is?

His belief was that an election would “likely return very little difference” to the political make-up of the Stormont Executive, and that unionists should “reflect” on that. It might even result in a better outcome for parties such as Sinn Féin, with Minister Baker saying: “I approach that possibility with considerable trepidation and humility.”

Fine Gael TD for Dublin Rathdown, Neale Richmond, whose mother is from Cootehill, acknowledged before the assembly a “gradual re-warming” of British-Irish relations in recent weeks, and asked when this might translate into “genuine proposals” from the British Government on the protocol.

“The integrity of the single market and the other interest of Ireland are vital and we recognise they are vital. But we have to remember that the union interest is vital. The constitutional interest of the Northern Ireland can only be changed by consent,” replied Minister Baker, who asked that those behind any future negotiations do so at the table and not in terms of media sound bites

“Get in a room. Don’t conduct our negotiations in public, our big red lines or our concessions in public. Let’s have a private conversation in formal terms with table text and resolve this in a way that will work for us all.”

Dividends

In his own address to the assembly, Taoiseach Micheál Martin stated that the “dividends” the Good Friday Agreement has delivered over almost 25 years in terms of “peace, reconciliation and collaboration” are “well understood” in Cavan and surrounding areas.

While it has, “undeniably”, been a “difficult period” in British Irish relations in recognising how Brexit has “fundamentally changed the relationship”, An Taoiseach said he was “clear that the UK remains an important partner for us given our trade and intertwined economies, our ties of family, history and culture, and our shared commitment to democratic values and norms.”

He added that a “stable and prosperous” Britain is in all our interests.

“There is a real opportunity to find jointly agreed solutions around the implementation of the Protocol. But substance is what is now required to sustain good intentions and catalyse durable solutions, and I urge the new British Prime Minister to move quickly to genuine and substantive engagement with the EU on that basis.”

The 62nd Plenary Session of the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly was co-chaired by Cavan-Monaghan Fianna Fail TD, Brendan Smith, and former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Karen Bradley MP.

Between Monday and Tuesday, assembly delegates would discuss a wide range of topics addressing shared interests, as well as hear from others such as Dr Linda Doyle, Provost and President of Trinity College Dublin on the role universities can play as catalysts for cooperation.

Brendan Howlin meanwhile presented to the assembly a report on ‘The effects of the post Brexit trading environment on UK-Irish Trade’, while Senator Emer Currie presented her report on ‘Consolidating the Bilateral Relationship between the UK and Ireland’.