Covid 19 and NI protocol on agenda as Taoiseach and Boris Johnson meet

almost 3 years in The Irish Times

Taoiseach Micheál Martin is travelling to England today to meet British prime minister Boris Johnson, with Troubles legacy issues, the Northern Ireland protocol and Covid-19 expected to dominate their discussions.
The pair are due to meet at Chequers in Buckinghamshire, the prime minister’s country residence, at around lunchtime.
The two will discuss unionist and loyalist unrest over the post-Brexit protocol, which has led to some barriers to trade between the North and the rest of the UK. They are also likely to discuss wider British-Irish issues and the coronavirus pandemic.
Officials in Dublin said the meeting had been arranged following talks between Mr Johnson and the Taoiseach in recent weeks and was not scheduled as a result of the Ballymurphy verdicts or the controversial proposals by the British government to halt future prosecutions of British soldiers for crimes committed during the Troubles.
However, it is expected that the two men will have discussions on these issues, as well as agreed agenda items.
Sources say further talks between officials on legacy issues could result from the meeting, though there is alarm in Dublin that the British government has unilaterally set aside the provisions of the Stormont House Agreement without consulting either Dublin or parties in the North.
Rebuild trust
Officials said they hope that a face-to-face meeting could rebuild trust between the two governments after a period in which relations have become strained.
But Mr Martin is expected to rebuff any attempts by Mr Johnson to have negotiations on the substance of the protocol, as this is an EU-UK matter, rather than a bilateral one between the two states.
In a sign that the British side want to have discussions on the protocol, it is expected that Lord David Frost, the British cabinet minister responsible for relations with the EU, will attend the meeting.
Tensions with unionism over the protocol were partly responsible for internal criticism in the DUP of party leader and Stormont First Minister Arlene Foster. Her replacement is to be elected on Friday evening. Both candidates, Edwin Poots and Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, have said they will not operate the protocol, though it remains part of British law.

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