New British prime minister Rishi Sunak is being urged to convene twice-yearly, top-level summits led by himself and the Taoiseach to repair the damage done to British-Irish relations by the UK pulling out of the EU.
Hours after the Conservative Party leader was installed, the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly (BIPA) called on Mr Sunak to overhaul key Belfast Agreement institutions to bridge a deepening divide between the islands.
In a report, it says Brexit has wiped out regular face-to-face meetings between British and Irish ministers and officials “as we take different paths” in a move that threatens the “critical importance” of peace and stability in the North.
It stressed the crucial relationships between former premiers Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair, as well as Enda Kenny and David Cameron, in nurturing the fledgling peace process.
The BIPA investigation into deteriorating relations took evidence from diplomats, government ministers, academics and industry as well as looking at how other countries internationally foster bilateral relations.
It states that most top-level contact between London and Dublin happened at EU Council meetings while ministers and officials from both capitals would most regularly meet at European gatherings.
In Brussels, British and Irish delegations worked “next door to each other”, building informal relationships which have been “lost since the UK left the EU”, the report states.
‘Hand in glove’
Senator Emer Currie, chair of BIPA’s sovereign affairs committee, said it was “taken for granted” that Britain and Ireland were working “side by side” and “hand in glove” for 45 years.
“We are now dealing with the loss of that… as we take different paths, with increased divergence on law and regulations,” she told The Irish Times.
BIPA wants Mr Sunak to ramp up existing east-west institutions set up under the Belfast Agreement peace deal − including the British-Irish Council (BIC) and British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference (BIIGC) − months after Tánaiste Leo Varadkar declared he had “never seen relations as bad” between Ireland and the UK.
Under the proposals, the BIIGC would meet twice a year “at summit level”, said Ms Currie, led by the Taoiseach and prime minister with their full cabinets. There would be “break-out sessions” for counterpart ministers to talk about their particular issues.
The sole government representatives at a BIIGC meeting earlier this year at Dublin’s Farmleigh House were Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney and Britain’s then-ministers for the North, Brandon Lewis and Conor Burns.
The BIC − which includes administrations for the North, Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man and Channel Islands − should also be attended by the premiers and their ministers, the BIPA report suggests.
“Rishi Sunak has a full inbox, a list of issues to look at, and what our report does is address one of the things on that list: how to manage the bilateral relationship if it is not working as closely as it can,” said Ms Currie.
‘Back on track’
“If he doesn’t, we could end up with other issues down the line.”
Ms Currie said there were “a lot of statements about reasserting relations, getting back on track” but that there needed to be “practical ways” to do that and “that is what this report seeks to do”.
“It is not that the bilateral relationship doesn’t exist, it does, with phone calls between ministers, but it is sporadic, and I think the level of contact needed could be well-served by really working the institutions of the GFA [Good Friday Agreement/Belfast Agreement],” she said.
“I think this could have a direct impact, not just with the Northern Ireland protocol, the legacy proposals, and the Border and Nationalities Bill, with electronic travel authorisation hanging over our heads for non-Irish or British citizens, but also the Convention of Human Rights which underpins the GFA.”
The deterioration in relations has been “compounded by new [British government] ministers coming in who don’t have an institutional memory of the GFA,” she added.
“We need to get back to basics, in building an understanding of how interdependent our countries are. It needs to be brought to a different level.
“The message to Rishi is that if we are going to reset the relationship, we need goodwill as there are going to be issues to address in our bilateral relations now and in the future.
“The structures are already here for us to consolidate the relationship. These are practical suggestions to make everyone’s life easier, build on the understanding of the GFA and the issues that we are coming up against.”
