Micheal Martin 'burying head in the sand' over remarks about unionist Protocol fears

In recent weeks, taoiseach Leo Varadkar has struck what has been seen as a more conciliatory tone, saying “we've all made mistakes in the handling of Brexit” and that the Protocol may be “too strict”.

And in Belfast on Friday, Mr Martin said: ​“I do genuinely believe that the EU is very anxious to deal with those concerns that unionism has.”

However he went on to add: “I reiterated our very strong view that the constitutional position of Northern Ireland is not impacted, and has to be underpinned in terms of the principle of consent, and that is something we strongly assert, that there can be no undermining of the constitutional status of Northern Ireland as per the Good Friday Agreement and the principle of consent.”

Unionists have long asserted that Northern Ireland’s constitutional place has been blatantly undercut by the Protocol, and that this is in fact their central complaint.

Responding to Mr Martin, the DUP’s Brexit spokesman in Westminster Sammy Wilson told the News Letter: “I guarantee that if the Supreme Court in London had a say over what happens in the Irish republic, he would certainly believe there’d been constitutional change in Ireland’s position.

"If the British government could make laws which applied in Dublin without the Dail having any input in them at all, he’d say that’s a change in the constitutional position of the Irish republic.

"He would not accept for the Republic what he says should be acceptable to unionists in NI.

"I think a lot of Irish politicians think all they have to say is the right words, and not back them up with any kind of action or any kind of substance.

"He mouths the right words, and I suppose he thinks we should be grateful for that. But he doesn’t put any kind of application to those words – that’s the problem.

"The real test of whether or not he understands our position is: how would he react if what’s happening in NI applied in the Irish republic?

"What’s even worse don’t forget is Dublin led the charge towards the changes that have occurred in NI… [it] encouraged the EU to demand those changes in negotiations.

"So they’re culpable for the changes that have occurred and which have offended unionists, and now they’re trying to bury their head in the sand and say ‘ah there has been no change’ when they know full well there has been change. And they have been in part the authors of those changes!

"He’s reflecting the view we’ve had for a long, long time that the EU and the Irish either don’t understand what unionist issues with the Protocol are, or, as I suspect is the real case, they do understand what the issues are and have no intention of resolving those.”

He said what is needed is not “some tinkering with the paperwork required for trade”, but rather that “the EU gets its laws out of NI”.

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