We cannot do useful business with Dublin if Fine Gael pair Varadkar and Coveney emerge as Taoiseach

Your editorial of April 6 (‘There are still openings for constructive dialogue with Dublin,’ see link below) is full of good points, amongst them the positive comment about Taoiseach Michael Martin

But, we should remember that there will be a change in Taoiseach at the end of next year, as part of the coalition agreement in Dublin.

We are faced with the return of Leo Varadkar, if he continues as leader, or possibly Simon Coveney, if there is a change at the top of Fine Gael.

Unfortunately, I don’t think we can do useful business with either of these politicians, other than at a basic level.

Obviously, decent people condemn the threats being made against Mr Varadkar.

We need to calm matters, and the way to do that is to track down the small number of misguided offenders and ensure that they desist, but also to reach out to reasonable politicians across divides.

So, on numerous issues, not just the NI protocol and the chaos that it is causing, unionism will seldom have a better interlocutor in the Taoiseach’s office than Mr Martin.

We have him for about 21 months.

John Gemmell, Wem, Shropshire

• There ought still to be openings for constructive dialogue with Dublin

——— ———

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers — and consequently the revenue we receive — we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Ireland and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Alistair Bushe

Editor