Taoiseach Micheál Martin will travel to Belfast on Monday to hold meetings with each of the leaders of the five main parties in Northern Ireland in an effort to restore the Northern institutions and prevent mandatory elections at the end of October.
The Taoiseach will meet separately with Michelle O’Neill (Sinn Féin), Jeffrey Donaldson (DUP), Naomi Long (Alliance), Colum Eastwood (SDLP) and Doug Beattie (UUP).
According to Government sources, Mr Martin will urge all parties to renew their efforts to get the Northern Ireland Executive and the all-party Assembly up and running. The deadline is fast approaching for new elections to be called if no resolution is found for the current impasse.
The institutions have been in abeyance since the Assembly elections earlier this year when Sinn Féin became the largest party in Northern Ireland and Ms O’Neill was nominated by her party as the first minister designate.
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However, The Democratic Unionist Party has refused to nominate a deputy first minister and has also blocked the appointment of a speaker to the Assembly, which has left it unable to function
Mr Donaldson, the party’s leader, has repeatedly said it will not agree to participate in either the Executive or the Assembly until the Northern Ireland protocol is scrapped or is fundamentally altered.
Mr Martin will also discuss issues around unionist concerns over the protocol during his discussions with all party leaders.
In advance of the Taoiseach’s visit, Mr Donaldson said the debris of the Northern Ireland protocol must be “cleared away” if Stormont powersharing is to return.
Relations between the UK and EU appear to have improved since Liz Truss became prime minister, and London and Brussels have been talking up the potential for a deal through fresh negotiations.
Current legislation says that unless Stormont is restored by October 28th, Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has to call Assembly elections — something he has said he is prepared to do.
Mr Donaldson said: “We must lay solid foundations if we are to move forward. We need to clear away the debris of the protocol years. We need to restore cross-community consensus.”
