Editorial: A scolding from a Taoiseach at Windsor Park

As we showed on our front page yesterday, Leo Varadkar was at Windsor Park, where he posed with a Linfield strip in his name. It could have been a repeat of the Taoiseach’s visit some years ago to the Museum of Orange Heritage in east Belfast five years ago, when Mr Varadkar – who was in his earlier spell as Irish prime minister – toured the attraction, seemed to be interested in what he saw, and emerged to talk with local well wishers.

That 2018 visit came at a time of considerable tension between the UK and Republic of Ireland governments over Brexit, not least because Mr Varadkar’s Fine Gael administration had the previous year toughened its position on there being no change at the Irish land border, thus resulting in a border in the Irish Sea.

Now relations between London and Dublin have healed somewhat in the aftermath of the Windsor deal. The tensions are between them and unionists.

Unfortunately yesterday Mr Varadkar ended up, in effect, scolding the UK government and the DUP over the absence of Stormont. It was in part just a coincidence of timing, that the Taoiseach was asked about such matters when he was at the stadium that is long associated with the Northern Ireland football team and thus with fans who passionately want this ‘wee country’ to continue to existence.

But it was also part of Mr Varadkar’s style. He and Simon Coveney have essentially demolished the long history of their party being less anglophobic than the traditionally more republican Fianna Fail. While Bertie Ahern and Micheal Martin of the latter party are very careful about what they say about Northern Ireland, Mr Varadkar and his team act as if there is joint stewardship of NI in the absence of Stormont. There isn’t. The impetus lies with London, or it would if not for an NIO culture of neutrality.