Democratic Unionist Party leader Jeffrey Donaldson has rejected suggestions by Tánaiste Micheál Martin that talks with the UK government to restore Stormont have ended without a breakthrough. Mr Donaldson insisted that negotiations to break the 20-month political deadlock were continuing, with a further meeting scheduled this week.
He was reacting to comments made on Sunday by Mr Martin, who said progress had “ebbed”, and that it was his understanding that talks had “more or less come to a conclusion”. The Tánaiste expressed concern that the prospect of an imminent breakthrough appeared to have waned.
Speaking to the BBC on Monday, the DUP leader said his party’s negotiations with the UK government over post-Brexit trading concerns “have not come to a conclusion”.
“No one in government has said that to me, and in fact we’re hoping to meet with the government later this week again. Those talks continue,” Mr Donaldson said.
As speculation mounts that the DUP is preparing the ground for a return to powersharing, he said “there are still gaps to be closed but we are working on these”.
“If we can get an agreement that unionists as well as nationalists can support…then perhaps we’ll be in a position to restore the institutions but we’re not there yet,” he added.
Last week Mr Donaldson said he could not be certain that Stormont will return by the end of the year.
The DUP effectively collapsed the devolved institutions last February when it withdrew its first minister from the Stormont executive over its opposition to the Northern Ireland Protocol, saying it undermined its place in the union and harmed businesses. The protocol was replaced with the Windsor Framework earlier this year, which aims to reduce controls and red tape for goods coming into Northern Ireland from Britain. However, the DUP said the framework deal does not satisfy all its concerns about internal trade barriers and Northern Ireland’s place in the UK.
Mr Martin said the Irish Government required “clarity” on what future arrangements would look like in Northern Ireland in the absence of powersharing. “We were hopeful some weeks back that there was progress being made. But, again, that seems to have ebbed,” Mr Martin told RTÉ. “And I think it’s urgent that the executive and the assembly is restored.”
On Monday a LucidTalk opinion poll showed that grassroots support for the DUP’s position is strong, with almost two-thirds of unionists supporting the party’s Stormont boycott. Published in the Belfast Telegraph, it suggests that while Sinn Féin remains in the lead with 31 per cent of support, the DUP has narrowed the gap to 28 per cent, up two points from a previous poll in August.
Mr Donaldson told the BBC: “I don’t determine my political strategy based on polls, I am focused on what I need to do which is to restore Northern Ireland’s place within the United Kingdom and its internal market, but I note the trend in these polls that support for the DUP continues to increase. I think that demonstrates that most unionists recognise what we’re trying to achieve here and are supportive of it, and I think that strengthens our hand in the negotiations.”
