TAOISEACH SIMON HARRIS says he looks forward to the Taoiseach-UK Prime Minister relationship going from “strength to strength”.
Following the landslide victory for Labour in the UK election overnight, Harris said he will speak to Keir Starmer, the incoming UK Prime Minister, “in the coming hours”.
Speaking to reporters this morning at Government Buildings, Harris said the election of a Labour government in the UK can herald a “great reset” in Anglo-Irish relations.
“The relationship between Ireland and the United Kingdom is deeply consequential for all people across these islands and the relationship between an Irish Taoiseach and a British Prime Minister is vital.
“Today is about looking forward. It’s about realising the full potential of that relationship between Taoiseach and Prime Minister and between our governments,” he added.
Harris said the last number of years “have been extraordinarily turbulent for a whole variety of reasons, not least of all Brexit”.
“There is now a real opportunity with the Northern Ireland institutions back up and running, the First Minister, Deputy First Minister, ministers at their desk in the Northern Ireland government here and me as Taoiseach, absolutely committing to dedicating my energy to the Anglo-Irish relationship and to taking it to a better place, and a British prime minister, who has led his party to a very comprehensive victory based on a manifesto that talks about partnership with Ireland and Co-guarantor,” Harris said.
Starmer has pledged to repeal the legislation that offered conditional immunity for perpetrators of Troubles crimes.
“Today is about looking forward,” Harris said, adding:
“This morning from Dublin I want to send a message to London that I will match Keir Starmer’s commitment and energy to our peace process and to our future potential in so many areas.
“I will work to make the Taoiseach-Prime Minister relationship not only what it should be, but what it could be.
“Ireland and the UK are not only neighbours, we are independent nations that are intertwined in history and culture. In many, many instances, we are, in fact, family,” said the Taoiseach.
In recent times, Tánaiste Micheál Martin and others in government have spoken about the UK’s Rwanda policy and the impact it could have on migration into Ireland.
Starmer’s manifesto outlines a “very different vision from a migration policy point of view for Britain”, Harris said.
That policy is for Starmer to articulate, the Taoiseach said, but he added that the Irish and British government will need to continue to work together on the Common Travel Area. “So these are things for the days ahead,” he said.
Reacting to the election result, which saw Sinn Féin take the most seats and the highest share of the vote in Northern Ireland, Mary Lou McDonald said today it was time to move forward to a new and better future.
She said the people had rejected fourteen years of British government cuts, which have negatively impacted the people of the north.
“The voters have now spoken, and I am delighted that Sinn Féin’s seven MPs have been returned for another term,” she said.
She said the message from the people of Northern Ireland to the British government is that “change is happening, it is time to plan, it is time to prepare for a new future together on this island. The people have spoken”.
“No matter what background or community people come from, Sinn Féin MPs will work hard every day to deliver on the things that matter to workers, families and businesses in every community.
“From day one, we will be knocking on the door of the British government to demand that they stop their disgraceful underfunding of our public services and of the Executive here. It is now time to move forward to a new and better future,” she said
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