LAST UPDATE | 11 Oct 2021
MINISTER FOR FOREIGN Affairs Simon Coveney has said the UK continually dismiss new proposals over the Northern Ireland Protocol put forward by the European Union.
His comments comes after Coveney questioned if the UK wants “a breakdown in relations” with the European Union in a late night Twitter spat with Brexit negotiator David Frost on Saturday.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs was responding to reports of a speech Frost is preparing to give in Portugal in Tuesday, in which he will make removing the role of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Northern Ireland a red-line issue.
Coveney tweeted: “EU working seriously to resolve practical issues with implementation of Protocol – so UKG (UK Government) creates a new “red line” barrier to progress, that they know EU can’t move on…. are we surprised?
“Real Q: Does UKG actually want an agreed way forward or a further breakdown in relations?”
Responding, Frost said: “1. I prefer not to do negotiations by twitter, but since @simoncoveney has begun the process… …the issue of governance & the CJEU is not new.
“We set out our concerns three months ago in our 21 July Command Paper. The problem is that too few people seem to have listened.
“2. We await proposals from @MarosSefcovic. We will look at them seriously & positively whatever they say.
“We will discuss them seriously and intensively. But there needs to be significant change to the current situation if there is to be a positive outcome.”
Coveney told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that the UK’s dismissals are “even more serious” this week, given the comprehensive “practical” proposals the EU is bringing forward.
He said this is being seen across the EU as “the same pattern, over and over again” by the UK.
Asked if it was “not very diplomatic” to be Tweeting on a Saturday night about the Northern Ireland Protocol, Coveney said: “I don’t think it was very diplomatic, but I don’t think it was diplomatic either to brief the main British newspapers on a speech that David Frost intends to give in Portugal tomorrow”.
Meanwhile, DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said it is not acceptable for Northern Ireland to fall within the jurisdiction of a court over which it has no control.
He made the remark as he was pressed on the DUP position on the Government’s demand for the EU to remove the arbitration role of the European Court of Justice from the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Fielding media questions at Stormont, Donaldson was asked why the ECJ was not referred to explicitly in his party’s seven tests for judging efforts to resolve issues with the protocol.
He said ECJ jurisdiction fell within the fourth test set out by the party: ‘give people in Northern Ireland a say in making the laws that govern them’.
“Actually that is part of my test – that I want to know how the people of Northern Ireland are going to be dealt with in all of this,” he said.
“It is not acceptable for Northern Ireland to have to accept laws and the jurisdiction of a court over which we have no control and in which we have no say. That is not the way forward.”
Donaldson added: “We are very clear that the governance arrangements, how any future measures and arrangements that are agreed with the EU are taken forward, how they are governed is very important, because there is the potential for future divergence between the UK and the EU, and we don’t want Northern Ireland once again caught in the middle of all of that.”
The DUP leader’s comments come after a high court judge found that the party’s boycott of north-south meetings in protest at the Northern Ireland Protocol is unlawful.
Justice Scoffield delivered the declaration at Belfast High Court after a Belfast man, Sean Napier, brought judicial review proceedings into the lawfulness of the DUP move.
The case centred around Donaldson’s announcement last month that his party would disengage with the North South Ministerial Council (NSMC) meetings as part of their campaign of opposition to the protocol.
Contains reporting from Press Association.
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