Micheál Martin welcomes Steve Baker's apology over Brexit talks

Taoiseach (Irish PM) Micheál Martin has welcomed an apology from Northern Ireland Minister Steve Baker over Brexit negotiations as "honest" and "very helpful".

Mr Baker's apology related to some of his behaviour towards Ireland and the EU during the Brexit process.

He said the UK must "show humility" with the EU if a deal on the Northern Ireland Protocol was to be reached.

The taoiseach praised "the tone of his comments".

Mr Martin added that he had a "very good engagement" with Prime Minister Liz Truss and her new cabinet members at the Queen's funeral.

Mr Baker, a well-known Eurosceptic, made the apology at the Conservative conference on Sunday.

Steve Baker said he was sorry UK-Ireland relations had been "soured" by the Brexit process

On Monday, he added that he had "absolutely no desire" to be in a position where relations with Ireland were in the wrong place.

"I am here to get a deal that is going to work for everyone, especially repairing the damage to the east-west strand," he told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme.

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When asked if progress could be made by changing the protocol rather than removing it, Mr Baker said he did not want to have negotiations in public.

Apology 'very naive'

Democratic Unionist Party MP Ian Paisley said he did not think the apology would achieve anything.

"I think you would want to focus on the latter part of his comments that he wanted to maintain the resolve to challenge the failed protocol," he told Radio Ulster's Evening Extra.

The DUP's Ian Paisley said Mr Baker's apology was naive

"But the apology is obviously the thing that has attracted everyone's attention and I must say I think it was very naive.

"And if we want to get into this series of apologies where do we start and where do we stop - most unionists would probably take the view that the first apology with regards to Brexit is probably required from Leo Varadkar for all the misrepresentation with regards to the border issues in Northern Ireland."

The European Commission has confirmed that talks will take place this week on the protocol.

European Commission spokesman Daniel Ferrie said the EU would approach them "constructively" and it remains "committed to finding joint solutions".

Mr Baker made the apology while speaking on a panel alongside Northern Ireland Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris and Conservative peer Lord Caine, who is parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Northern Ireland Office.

Much of the discussion centred around the Northern Ireland Protocol, which keeps Northern Ireland in the EU's single market for goods - avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland.

At the conference, Mr Baker said he and others did not "always behave in a way which encouraged Ireland and the European Union to trust us to accept that they have legitimate interests".

Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie said improving relations would help "resolve the problems that we have around the protocol".

"I think Steve Baker has started that process and I think others could join in and really show a generosity of spirit in order to move us forward," he added.

Micheál Martin said he had spoken to UK officials while in London for the Queen's funeral

Lord Caine said Mr Baker's remarks were "emphatically not a change of policy".

In response to Mr Baker's original apology, Ms Truss said he had been speaking for himself and not on behalf of the government.

'Humble pie'

Meanwhile, Ireland's Minister for European Affairs, Thomas Byrne, told BBC Radio Four there was no question that UK negotiators had altered their tone in the protocol talks.

"I think it definitely contributes to a new atmosphere at a really good time, when we're looking now to restart technical-level talks," Mr Byrne said.

Mr Baker told Irish broadcaster RTÉ that unionists and loyalists had "not reacted well" to his apology.

"But I would just say to them, if we're going to be constructive here... we've got to de-escalate these tensions.

"If I have to eat a bit of humble pie to get that done, then I'm happy to eat it."