Troubles legacy: Irish PM denies hypocrisy over case against UK

Leo Varadkar also said he is optimistic the political stalemate in Northern Ireland can be resolved

Ireland's Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) has defended a controversial court case against the United Kingdom.

Leo Varadkar told the BBC that he didn't want to take the UK to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) over the British Troubles legacy act.

However standing by "victims and survivors" of violence in Northern Ireland and the 2014 Stormont House Agreement was important.

The case was formally lodged at the ECHR on Wednesday.

The legacy act became law last September and offers a conditional amnesty to those accused of killings during the Troubles.

It will also stop any new Troubles-era court cases and inquests being held.

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Opponents, including victims groups and Stormont parties, have argued it will remove access to justice. The bill is also set to face at least 11 separate legal challenges.

Serious reservations have been raised by several leading politicians.

Mr Varadkar denied charges of hypocrisy over a lack of Irish prosecutions for violence during the Troubles, saying Ireland would be "happy to engage" with British authorities on the details of specific cases.

The Irish PM also would not be drawn on a wider role for Dublin in breaking the impasse over the re-establishment of the Northern Ireland Executive, saying it was a matter for the UK Government and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

He said the Windsor Framework was "working".

Mr Varadkar also said it was important not to "overstate the rise of the far right" in Ireland after recent riots in Dublin.