Micheál Martin: 'Using Brexit to create dispute causes harm'

The rioting has mostly involved gangs of youths armed with bricks and petrol bombs

The taoiseach (Irish prime minister) has warned of "very serious harm" if people use Brexit as an issue to create points of dispute in NI.

Nearly 90 officers were hurt in sporadic rioting in NI in recent weeks.

Micheál Martin said it demonstrated what happens when "sectarian tensions grow" and are "encouraged by political events".

He was speaking at his party's annual 1916 commemoration

The taoiseach said misrepresentations of the NI Protocol were damaging the economy across the island of Ireland.

The protocol is the part of the Brexit deal relating to Northern Ireland and has led to the creation of a new trade border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

He described the protocol as "a fair conclusion to attempts to limit the potential destructiveness of Brexit on this island" and that it was "nowhere near as complex as it has been presented".

Outstanding issues and disruption can be resolved "with good faith and cooperation", he added.

Mr Martin said the NI Protocol was 'nowhere near as complex as it has been presented'

"It is important to say that very serious harm can come if we keep seeing people trying to use Brexit as an issue to create points of dispute. Or by presenting every single issue as a zero-sum, win-lose fight.

"When this approach is followed in relation to UK-EU relations the damage it causes is primarily economic. When it involves misrepresenting the arrangements for Northern Ireland the damage can go much further," he said.

'Visionary document'

• What is behind the violence in Northern Ireland?

• Why are there Brexit checks in Northern Ireland?

In his speech at Arbour Hill in Dublin, Mr Martin also described the Good Friday Agreement as "both a practical and a visionary document".

But he said too little has been done in the years since "to build essential links, to create new opportunities and to show people how much we can achieve through cooperation".

Mr Martin said the Shared Island Initiative he established is aimed at delivering the potential of the Good Friday Agreement to the benefit of all.