LAST UPDATE | 17 Jul
TAOISEACH SIMON HARRIS AND British Prime Minister Keir Starmer have toasted the “reset” in relations between Ireland and the UK with pints of Guinness at Chequers.
They have also agreed to set up a new annual summit to “focus on key issues” affecting both countries as Starmer hosted a bilateral meeting at the traditional countryside home of the British leader this evening.
The two have agreed to meet again in Dublin on 7 September, which is set to coincide with the Republic of Ireland and England men’s football teams facing off against each other at the Avida Stadium.
Speaking afterwards, Harris said he believes there is an opportunity to return to a “Bertie-Blair relationship”, referring to the strong ties between the Irish and UK governments in the 1990s which helped lead to the Good Friday Agreement.
He said claims of a ‘reset’ in relations are “not just a slogan” and added that he couldn’t “overstate the significance” of this evening’s meeting.
Harris said he thinks Starmer is holding these early engagements as part of a campaign of “rebuilding interpersonal relationships across the European Union with other heads of government”.
Greeting Harris as he arrived, Starmer said he was very pleased to have an early opportunity to begin “resetting, strengthening and deepening our relationship” when greeting Harris.
He said “tonight wasn’t for” discussing certain policy aims Ireland is striving for with the UK, but said he “definitely left Chequers knowing” that the new British prime minister “wants to see a closer relationship with the European Union”.
“I think that’s ultimately good for Europe, I think it’s ultimately good for Ireland and I think it’s good for the UK,” the Taoiseach said.
Harris said the new proposed annual summit between Ireland and the UK would provide a programme of work on key policy issues which would then “task various ministers” in both governments to work on together.
He said this would not be a talking shop and will be different to the British-Irish Council, which he pointed out to including members of other devolved governments and other state bodies such as the Isle of Man. Instead, the new forum would see both governments “intensively working” on areas of mutual concern.
“Being truthful, that hasn’t been happening in the way, the manner or the frequency, which it which it would have in the past and which it must in the future. That’s the big outcome from tonight, plus the British prime minister very much wanting to come to Dublin.”
It was confirmed in the King’s Speech today that the Labour government will repeal the controversial Troubles Legacy Act.
The Taoiseach tonight said that the two governments needed to understand what promises to “replace” the Legacy Bill would look like.
He said that to hear Starmer refer to the UK government as “co-guarantors of the Good Friday agreement” was “so refreshing and so encouraging”, in a dig at his predecessors in the Tory party.
Harris is the first international leader to visit the UK since Starmer was elected as Prime Minister.
The relationship between London and Dublin has been under severe strain in recent years.
The turbulence caused by Brexit and the Conservative government’s controversial laws to deal with the legacy of the Troubles were areas of major tension.
After their meeting at Chequers a joint statement said they had agreed the “time was right” for a reset of the Anglo-Irish relationship.
The statement said: “They noted that the ties which bind both countries span geography and history, family and business, politics and culture, and agreed to work together over the coming weeks to put in place arrangements to support, encourage and strengthen all aspects of relations.
“As a first step towards rebuilding this unique partnership, the Prime Minister and Taoiseach committed to annual summits at which they will take stock of joint work to deepen and reinvigorate co-operation.
“They discussed the Good Friday Agreement as co-guarantors and their shared commitment to its principles and institutions, and to furthering prosperity and reconciliation in Northern Ireland. They discussed legacy issues, working to support all communities and victims in Northern Ireland.”
The statement added that their discussions also covered global issues, including support to Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.
“They both agreed on the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages, and urgent action to address the humanitarian crisis. The Taoiseach welcomed the Prime Minister’s commitment to closer co-operation with the European Union.”
The meeting between the two leaders took place on the eve of a major summit of European leaders at Blenheim Palace tomorrow.
Ahead of this evening’s meeting in Chequers, Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald called on Harris to use it as an opportunity to “press the case” for a public inquiry into murder of Pat Finucane.
Finucane, a lawyer who represented republican and loyalist paramilitaries during the Troubles, was shot dead in his family home in north Belfast in February 1989 by the Ulster Defence Association in an attack found to have involved collusion with the state.
McDonald said that in 2019, the Supreme Court in London declared that previous investigations commissioned by British governments into Finucane’s murder “failed to meet the standards required by Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights”.
While McDonald said the Finucane family has received strong support” from the Irish Government during their “dignified campaign for truth and justice”, she added that the British government “has not adequately or sufficiently responded to that 2019 Supreme Court judgment”.
-With additional reporting from Diarmuid Pepper and PA
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