'DUP proved other parties wrong on protocol, but more time is needed to finish the job': Sir Jeffrey Donaldson

Earlier on Friday, Irish premier Leo Varadkar said that he hopes to see the powersharing executive restored by September.

Although he declined to speculate on whether his government would seek a form of joint authority in the absence of a devolved administration, Mr Varadkar said he didn’t think "most people in Northern Ireland, could accept a return to direct rule either".

The Stormont Assembly has been effectively collapsed for more than a year while the DUP refuses to participate in the powersharing institutions in protest at post-Brexit trading arrangements.

DUP leader and Lagan Valley MP Sir Jeffrey has said his party’s boycott of Stormont was vindicated when the DUP returned the same number of councillors (122) during last month’s local election.

"I met thousands of people during the campaign who are passionate about Northern Ireland and want our position within the UK restored so our economy can thrive, and we get the reforms we need in our schools and hospitals,” he said.

"Our work continues in London to ensure that the Northern Ireland Assembly can be restored on a fair and sustainable basis.

"Whilst the Alliance Party and Sinn Fein told us the Protocol was unalterable and needed to be rigorously implemented, we proved them wrong and have made progress but we now need to finish the job. Our campaign goes on,” Sir Jeffrey added.

Leo Varadkar, speaking to the media during a visit to the Bloom Festival in Dublin on Friday, said: "Let's just be very clear, there is no provision in the Good Friday Agreement for joint authority but equally I don't think anybody in the Republic of Ireland, and I don't think most people in Northern Ireland, could accept a return to direct rule either.

"The focus is entirely now on working with the five main parties in Northern Ireland, the Irish and British governments working together to try and get the institutions up and running as soon as possible, hoping that can be done as early as September, but a lot of work to be done between now and then."

Pressed further on potential alternatives if Stormont is not re-established, Mr Varadkar said: "We're trying to achieve an objective, the British and Irish governments working together consulting with the five parties trying to get the Executive and Assembly, and the north-south bodies, up and running in September.

"We want to make sure that if the Executive is established that it is a success, that's really crucial, that's what is most important in the interests of the people of Northern Ireland and I think me speculating about plan B or plan C at this stage would be counter-productive."

Tanaiste and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin is expected to meet with the Stormont parties next week.

He said his message will be that the people of Northern Ireland deserve devolved government.

"I hope to engage and meet with all of the parties, my message is I think that first of all that people deserve an executive and deserve an assembly," he told media at the same event in Dublin.

"Secondly I think the Windsor Agreement did address very, very comprehensively many of the issues that the DUP and the UUP and others had raised in respect of the free movement of goods from GB into Northern Ireland and tremendous progress was made on that”.

Earlier this week, DUP MP Ian Paisley said it could be “an ice age” before the UK Government acts to remedy the issues which is keeping his party out of government.He declared that he is explicitly “rubbishing” the idea of a return to Stormont this autumn.

"Post-election I think it's very clear to see that the idea that Stormont is coming back anytime quickly is for the birds,” he told BBC TV’s Nolan Show.​​​​

"We set out a series of tests. Those tests have still got to be met. We've had the BBC, national broadcasters, governments, Prime Ministers, presidents flow in to castigate our party and say 'oh these issues are trivial'."They're not. And until they're fixed how on Earth can we even contemplate restoring an Assembly that still won't address these issues?”