‘No goodwill coming from UK’ on Northern Ireland protocol, Irish MEPs say

Irish MEPs have criticised the UK government for its “hostility” and “unwillingness” to resolve the dispute between the EU and Britain over the Northern Ireland protocol.

Speaking to Irish journalists in Brussels on Wednesday, Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher said he was “concerned that there is no goodwill coming from the UK”.

Legislation to scrap the bulk of Brexit’s Northern Ireland protocol showed the UK government “don’t even understand the nuances of what’s happening and what has happened on the island of Ireland and how the peace process has evolved,” Mr Kelleher said.

“They simply don’t care. Because none of the major actors of the Tory party were ever involved in those discussions. The reality is the protocol is working quite well from a business perspective.”

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“They are just so hostile to Europe and everywhere.”

Echoing comments made by Taoiseach Micheál Martin on Sunday, Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Andrews said the legislation was “diplomatic vandalism”.

Last weekend, the Taoiseach told the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme the legislation represented “a form of economic vandalism on Northern Ireland because, if we look at any objective data, it is now showing that the Northern Ireland economy is doing very well.”

Adding to the Taoiseach’s comments Mr Andrews said: “I think it’s diplomatic vandalism because it puts at risk the two cornerstones of our European and international policy, which is the protection of the Good Friday Agreement and our status within the EU.”

“What is absent on the British side is desire to settle, because it serves other purposes that are considered greater priority for the British government… the stigma against breaking international law is completely eroded in the UK.”

The US government needed to “take a little bit more of a proactive role” in helping to resolve the situation, Mr Andrews told journalists.

“The US has always played a really important, honest broker role in these key moments. And it feels to me like they’re not involved in this at this moment in time, and are not prepared to invest in it.”

Fine Gael MEP Seán Kelly said Brexiteers were “looking for excuses” to blame the European Union for Brexit’s economic fallout.

“I think what’s really annoying Brexiteers was a bit like Trump… ‘Make Great Britain great again, our economy will grow.’ Well, the opposite has happened. And they don’t like that. They’re looking for excuses to blame the European Union,” Mr Kelly said.

“The protocol actually is working for most businesses. We’ve had them all here, in my position as chair of the Intel Working Group on this. We’ve had business people from both sides and they’re telling us the protocol is working, because the economy is growing and they have the best of both worlds.”

European Commissioner Mairead McGuinness told journalists on Tuesday that she was “concerned it’s not looking like it’ll be resolved in the medium term”.

“We can solve these problems, but not unilaterally,” she said.

DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson has said it is likely to take between nine and 12 months for the legislation, which gives British ministers the power to unilaterally scrap most of the protocol, to pass all its stages in parliament.

Meanwhile, the European Commission announced fresh legal proceedings against Britain last week that can ultimately lead to fines.