Northern Ireland Protocol: Funeral of peace deal unless it is sorted - Poots

Edwin Poots was responding to comments by Prime Minister Liz Truss

The political impasse over the Northern Ireland Protocol could lead to the "funeral of the Good Friday Agreement", a Democratic Unionist Party minister has said.

Edwin Poots repeated that his party would not return to Stormont until issues were resolved.

The DUP withdrew from Stormont's institutions in protest at the post-Brexit trading arrangements.

The prime minster said her party is "determined" to sort out the protocol.

"It's very important that we restore the east/west trading relationship so that we're able to support both communities in Northern Ireland and support the primacy of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement," Liz Truss told Northern Ireland Conservatives at her party's conference on Tuesday.

"I want to see the assembly and executive back up and running," she continued.

"I want to see decisions made in Northern Ireland and I want to see new jobs, new investment and new opportunities."

The Good Friday peace deal set up power-sharing in Northern Ireland.

The protocol keeps Northern Ireland in the EU's single market for goods, avoiding the need for a hard border with the Republic of Ireland after Brexit.

But it means new checks on goods arriving from Great Britain, causing deep concern among unionists.

'Something radical'

Legislation to enable the UK government to effectively tear up parts of the protocol is to return to Parliament on 11 October.

The Northern Ireland Protocol Bill has already cleared the House of Commons and will be debated at second reading by the House of Lords, which is expected to consider it at length, next week.

Speaking on Irish national broadcaster RTÉ on Tuesday, Mr Poots said it would be fantastic if the bill proceeded quickly but added that it could take a further nine months to proceed.

He said this was "an untenable position".

• Why could parts of the Brexit deal be ditched?

• What is the Good Friday Agreement?

• Irish PM welcomes MP's apology over Brexit talks

Mr Poots also said US President Joe Biden could be visiting Ireland next year for the "funeral" of the Good Friday Agreement rather than a celebration of its 25th anniversary.

He said this was likely "unless something radical happens and the EU decides to become a bit more realistic".

Asked by BBC News NI about his comments, Mr Poots added: "In reality, if we are sitting here in April with no change, we won't have the devolved institutions.

"As a consequence of that the Good Friday Agreement will not be a celebration, it will certainly be something else."

The DUP withdrew from the executive in protest over the Northern Ireland Protocol earlier this year.

The executive is at the heart of Northern Ireland's devolved government, made up of ministers nominated to oversee key departments such as health, finance and justice.

Mr Poots was responding to earlier remarks from Liz Truss, who said there was no reason an assembly and executive should not be re-established at Stormont now.

Ms Truss also said she wanted a settlement with the EU over the Northern Ireland Protocol which "works for everybody".

"The prime minister knows what the DUP's position is, and it is reflecting of all of unionism's position in that no-one accepts that the protocol is the way forward for Northern Ireland," Mr Poots said.

"The consequence of that is that the Belfast Good Friday Agreement was established on the basis of cross-community consent and that cross community consent has not been achieved.

"Therefore there will not be an assembly and there will not be institutions of the Good Friday Agreement whilst we have the protocol - the two things are incompatible."

Sinn Féin's John Finucane said the comments by Edwin Poots were "petulant" and "immature".

The North Belfast MP said the comments are yet another example that the DUP remained deaf and blind to the problems that face society.

'Work to do'

Talks between the EU and UK are due to resume this week, when officials will meet for technical level talks.

The EU's ambassador to the UK said there is "still a lot of work to do" to resolve the dispute over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

João Vale de Almeida welcomed that technical talks between both sides would restart this week.

On Monday, he spoke at an EU event at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham.

Mr Vale de Almeida said he hoped in the "coming weeks" that progress would be made.

The government has been attempting to renegotiate the deal for some time, following concerns from unionists.

But the EU had said while it would allow flexibilities, it did not want to get into a full renegotiation.

On Tuesday, the Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Mícheál Martin called for the UK and EU negotiators to be given space as they try to resolve differences over the protocol.

Speaking in the Dáil (lower house of parliament), he said he couldn't indicate when the talks might be finalised with or without an agreement.