Brexit: Taoiseach calls for UK to 'engage with EU' on NI Protocol

Mícheál Martin said the EU was coming up with solutions in areas such as medicines

The taoiseach (Irish prime minister) has called on the UK to come forward with solutions and engage with the EU on the Northern Ireland protocol.

Unionists believe the protocol undermines their sense of Britishness.

Mícheál Martin said the EU was coming up with solutions in such areas as medicines.

It comes after Democratic Unionist Party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson called for "action from Downing Street".

Mr Martin said there had to be "reciprocity" from the UK.

"There has to be reciprocity on the UK side and a genuine willingness to engage to get a solution," Mr Martin said.

He said that once the party conferences were over he hoped the two sides would engage and that he believed the UK's Brexit negotiator, Lord Frost, wanted to get a solution.

He added that now was the time for prose rather than poetry.

• Unionist leaders unite in NI Protocol opposition

• Why are there tensions over the NI Brexit deal?

Unionist leaders have previously signed a joint declaration opposing the protocol.

The UK and EU agreed the protocol in 2019, as part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement.

It prevents a hard border in Ireland by keeping Northern Ireland in the EU single market for goods.

Mr Martin said he took threats to invoke Article 16 of the protocol seriously but added that "unilateralism isn't the way to resolve this."

Mr Martin said it was in everyone's interest to get the issues resolved.

Article 16 allows either the UK or the EU to take unilateral "safeguard" measures if it concludes the is leading to serious problems.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson told Boris Johnson it was time for action on the Northern Ireland Protocol

Last month, Sir Jeffrey said his party may quit Stormont "within weeks" if its demands over the Northern Ireland Protocol are not met.

He was speaking after meeting the prime minister, Boris Johnson, at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester.

Sir Jeffrey said the protocol "is harming the union and our economy".

The Lagan Valley MP said he reminded the prime minister that "if there is no action to remove the Irish Sea border, then we will have no option but to ask the voters in Northern Ireland for their verdict".

He said the protocol "must be rejected" and replaced by arrangements which "fully respect Northern Ireland's position as a constituent and integral part of the United Kingdom".

"It is the voters who are facing increased costs and reduced choice in their supermarkets," he said.

Sir Jeffrey said he set a deadline to Mr Johnson of the end of October/early November for the government to act "decisively".

UK Brexit minister Lord Frost said he expects to get a response from the EU to UK proposals in about 10 days.

He said "an intensified and short period of negotiations" was needed once he had a response, which he indicated could be "three weeks or so".

Sir Jeffrey said he was confident the government was moving in the direction that action would be taken on the protocol, but that the "clock was ticking".

On Monday, the leaders of Northern Ireland's three main unionist parties debated the protocol in front of an audience at a Tory Party fringe event.

Sir Jeffrey, Doug Beattie (UUP) and Jim Allister (TUV) shared a stage at the event, which was billed as Equal Rights for Northern Ireland, replacing the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Unionists say the protocol damages trade and threatens Northern Ireland's place in the UK

Mr Beattie, Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader, said the unionist parties were pointing in the "same direction" though they may be in "slightly different lanes" in regards to the Northern Ireland Protocol.

He reminded delegates that his party did not support the Brexit vote because he "thought it would be destabilising for the union".

However, Mr Beattie added that his party "certainly did not support the protocol" which he said was "deeply damaging in all of its facets".

When asked about Sir Jeffrey's recent threat to collapse the Stormont institutions, Mr Beattie said he "cannot and will not" support the move adding that they needed "more engagement not less".

Separately, Lord Frost told the conference the arrangements agreed with the EU "have begun to come apart even more quickly than we feared".

He said the protocol was "not working and needs to change" and he worried the UK's proposals would not be agreed by the EU.

Lord Frost said triggering Article 16, which would suspend part of the deal, may end up as "the only way" forward.

Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said he believed conditions had been met to trigger Article 16 although the government wanted to work with the EU to get a "sustainable" long-term solution.

Mr Lewis said "good faith" was being shown to negotiate the best way forward.

It comes after a BBC News NI interview with the prime minister during which he did not rule out triggering Article 16.

Mr Johnson said he wanted the EU to present proposals to fix the protocol.

What is the protocol?

The Northern Ireland Protocol is a post-Brexit trade arrangement which was agreed by the UK and the EU in order to avoid the reintroduction of a hard border on the island of Ireland.

Under the terms of the protocol, Northern Ireland must still apply EU single market rules at its ports, in order to avoid the need for checks along the Irish land border as goods enter the EU.

In practice, this means some products moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland have been subject to new checks, which has angered many unionists who feel this is damaging trade, supply lines and Northern Ireland's position within the UK.

Separately, former DUP leader Arlene Foster's successor is also expected due to be announced this week.