Leo Varadkar: TUV leader Jim Allister urges new Irish Taoiseach to 'mind his own business'

On Saturday The Fine Gael leader replaced the Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin as taoiseach under the terms of the coalition deal struck in 2020.

Mr Varadkar has repeatedly been the subject of stiff unionist criticism since Brexit, in particular over where and why EU customs border checks should be placed on the island of Ireland.

Mr Allister said in relation to the return of Mr Varadkar as Taoiseach: "When it comes to Northern Ireland my message to Mr Varadkar is quite simple - mind your own business.

"The land grab by the EU which happened during his previous stint as Prime Minister has resulted in the institutions of the Belfast Agreement collapsing and quite rightly so. No Unionist worthy of the name could operate a system which, as the judgement against former Minister Poots last week illustrated, required them to implement something which fundamentally undermines the Union.

“Northern Ireland is and remains part of the United Kingdom by will of its people and the attempts by Mr Varadkar to undermine that have predictably had political consequences.

“Unionists well recall how during his previous stint heading the Dublin Government he used the threat of IRA violence to push his political agenda, infamously waving around a newspaper report of a Provisional IRA bomb attack on a border post. Hopefully he has moved on from that.”

Mr Martin had formally tendered his resignation to Mr Higgins, paving the way for Mr Varadkar to succeed him.