Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he does not want to put a “fake deadline” on the Northern institutions being restored but added that that outcome may not be too far away.
Mr Varadkar said that the parties, and the two governments, continued to engage on the issue but there was no formal timeline set out.
“We don’t want to put a fake deadline on it, at least not at this stage. I know everyone would have liked to have the institutions up and running in time for the [25th] anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement,” he said.
“I always made it clear that that wasn’t necessarily a deadline. And other factors have to be taken into account as well. Certainly, I’d like to see the Windsor framework implemented. It has been voted through by the House of Commons by a very big majority.
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“What I’m keen to do is build a common position between the Irish Government and the British government. And I think if we can get that in place and get that agreed, that increases the chances for us having success in the North.”
Local elections
The Taoiseach said that any review of the agreement should not take place until after the institutions were up and running.
“Hopefully, it is not going to be too far away. I appreciate there are local elections coming up in May and then there’s the marching season, which can be difficult in Northern Ireland. I am certainly working towards having the institutions up and running in the next few months.
“When you have the parties around the table when they’re acting together as a Government [and] when they’re dealing with practical problems, I think that’s a better space in which to have any kind of review.”
He said that reviews have to be approached carefully. He instanced the St Andrew’s review in 2006, which helped overcome the impasse at the time but created subsequent difficulties. One unintended consequence was a clause which allowed the two biggest parties to effectively veto the institutions by refusing to nominate a first minister or deputy first minister.
Mr Varadkar was speaking to RTÉ Radio’s This Week. He said that the visit of US president Joe Biden to Ireland would cement relations between the US and Ireland at a time when they have “never been better”.
“The president of the US is an extraordinarily busy man. I’m grateful that he’s spending so much time in Ireland … We have the benefit of him for several days.”
Turning to the issue of housing Mr Varadkar agreed that it was a huge political issue. “It’s one of the biggest issues if not the biggest issue that people raise with me when I’m out and about or when I’m on the doors. People are suffering as a result of the housing crisis in different ways.”
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However, he said that the situation was now “on the cusp” of change.
“House prices are levelling off and, if anything, falling a little. We have had record numbers of first-time buyers in the last few months. Why is this happening? Because of the increased supply [and] because of schemes the Government has put in place.”
Reacting to an opinion poll published by the Sunday Times that showed support for Fine Gael dropping by eight percentage points, Mr Varadkar said he never read too much into one poll. He said that there were two polls in the preceding two weeks that showed Fine Gael’s support levels going up.
“I’ve never read anything to one poll. I tend to take them in threes and fours and that gives you a much better impression as to where the public stands,” he said.
