Elections ‘not what North needs’, says Taoiseach

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that he does not believe that the crisis in the Democratic Unionist Party leader will provoke the collapse of Stormont and new elections in Northern Ireland.

“I don’t necessarily think there has to be any elections right now or there is a need for elections. In my view, it is not what Northern Ireland requires,” he declared.

The events surrounding the departure of Edwin Poots from the DUP leadership after just weeks in the role had created "a very turbulent 24 hours", he said.

Mr Martin expressed confidence that the Irish language legislation would be introduced if necessary by London, adding that it had previously agreed by all of Stormont’s parties.

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However, Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney warned that a snap Stormont election provoked by the DUP crisis could end up becoming a "referendum" on the Northern Ireland protocol.

“The difficulties and tensions linked to the implementation of the protocol and the fallout from Brexit is still very live across Northern Ireland,” he said, warning that the marching season could be “potentially very tense”.

Mr Coveney added that the European Union understood the need for calm, and that the EU and London had an obligation to find solutions to the protocol row and that Dublin was helping however it could.

“The idea that we introduce an election in the middle of all of that, in the short term, which in some ways would be a referendum on the protocol and some of the issues of division we have seen, means that the election would be based on polarisation and division as opposed to focusing on policy change and governance to deal with problems in Northern Ireland,” he warned.

Ahern appeal

Calling for calm and careful language in the days ahead after a two-day visit to the North this week, former taoiseach Bertie Ahern said there were deep fears within unionism that had to be acknowledged.

It had been explained to him by a senior unionist during his visit, he said, that “there is a deep seated concern within unionism that things on their side are out of control.

“They don’t have friends in Westminster, they don’t have too many friends down here, they have no friends in America, as they see it, that politics isn’t working and they are on the back foot,” he said.

"That is how they see it. The whole thing is about balance, it is about keeping peace. There is no point in putting people in the corner," said the former Fianna Fáil leader.

He urged Northern Irish politicians to “calm down” and avoid elections and further instability ahead of the marching season. “This is a time for cool heads,” he added.

Unlike any year since 1998, with the instigation of the Parades Commission, growing numbers of loyalist flute bands were not "going through the normal channels" to seek permissions for weekly demonstrations, he told RTÉ radio.

The deal with the UK northern secretary, Brandon Lewis, to push through language legislation in Westminster by October if it was not passed through Stormont was "badly presented", he said.

The language legislation was just one of a suite of pledges in the New Decade, New Approach agreement, including the promotion of Ulster Scots, but Thursday's deal was presented as just being about the Irish language, he said.