Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Whatever way one looks at it, the outcome of the Assembly elections in Northern Ireland last week was historic. For the first time since the creation of Northern Ireland 100 years ago, a nationalist party, Sinn Féin, is the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly. The success of a centre ground party, the Alliance Party, is also significant. Geoffrey Donaldson, the leader of the DUP, has stated that it will not nominate a Deputy First Minister this week until the issues concerning the Northern Ireland protocol are resolved. We are where we are.

The issues regarding the implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol need to be resolved, and resolved fairly quickly. In my view, the EU has shown considerable flexibility on the matter, in particular as regards checks on goods coming into Northern Ireland from Britain. We have the continuous threat by the UK to introduce legislation to set aside aspects of the protocol, although that was not in the queen's speech today, I understand.

The Taoiseach had a phone call with the British Prime Minister today. He spoke to the leaders of the parties in Northern Ireland yesterday. Can he tell us where we are as regards EU-UK negotiations? Can these negotiations be given an added impetus, given the stalemate in Northern Ireland? Will there be renewed moves to resolve the protocol problems?

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