IRELAND’S AMBASSADOR TO the United States has said that there has been a ‘reset’ in relations between the UK and Ireland since the new British government was elected, after years of tension between the two over Brexit and Northern Ireland. 

Speaking at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Geraldine Byrne Nason said Ireland had been left ‘deeply frustrated’ in particular over the controversial Legacy Act brought in by the previous British government under Conservative leader Rishi Sunak. 

Labour has said the Act, which was signed into law earlier this year before the election, will be repealed and replaced. 

“The first indications [from Labour] are positive,” Byrne Nason said in an interview with FedNet TV. 

The Act had been universally condemned by the Irish government and all political parties in Northern Ireland. It offered immunity for perpetrators of crimes during the Troubles in exchange for cooperation with a truth recovery body. It also halted all ongoing civil cases and inquests, including cases involving British soldiers. 

Ireland has taken a case to the European Court of Human Rights over the legislation. 

This was ‘not done lightly’, Byrne Nason said.  “Frankly, by the way the last British administration handled the issue, the Irish government felt that there was no alternative.”

She noted that the United States had been very supportive of Ireland’s case, praising Irish-American politicians who have written repeatedly to the British government over the issue. 

“From everything we’re hearing and seeing, I would say there’s a sort of reset going on between Dublin and London, and the Legacy Act is part of that,” she said. 

“This has been a road that has been a difficult, troubled one to travel for the Irish government.”

Noting that the ‘case is now in the court’, she said: “Aspects of the Act that victims’ groups have deep concerns about, shared by the Irish government, might change the trajectory of that case. We have to wait and see.”

Tánaiste Micheál Martin has praised the new British government’s plan to establishing a way to deal with violence carried out during the Troubles. 

“We owe it to victims, survivors and their loved ones to get this right,” he said. 

Taoiseach Simon Harris and Prime Minister Keir Starmer are due to meet again in September when, Byrne Nason said, ‘we want to see the commitment that was made before the election translated into action’.