'No issue' with streamlining Northern Ireland-Britain trade, says Martin ahead of deal publication

Jonathan McCambridge, PA

Updated: 10am

The Government has "no issue" with the streamlining of trade processes for goods travelling between Northern Ireland and Britain, Micheál Martin has said.

The Tánaiste is in Belfast on Thursday to meet with political and business leaders in the North, as the UK government is due to publish the details of its deal with the DUP aimed at restoring powersharing.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has already said that the agreement will remove all post-Brexit checks on goods destined for Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK.

The unionist party has been using a veto power to block Stormont’s devolved institutions for almost two years in protest at the post-Brexit arrangements that have created trade barriers between the North and Britain.

However, Mr Donaldson announced earlier this week that his party was prepared to return to Stormont, dependent on the UK government implementing the various legislative assurances and other measures it has offered.

This is expected to lead to the restoration of devolved government in Northern Ireland within days and will see Michelle O’Neill become the North’s first ever nationalist first minister.

Speaking in Belfast on Wednesday morning, Mr Martin commended Mr Donaldson on his leadership, saying the DUP leader has opened a path to a functioning executive and assembly.

“We’ll await the publication of the documents today by the British government,” Mr Martin added.

“I think it would be prudent to examine those, and we will do that. The British government and the European Union have worked hard to address many of the practical concerns about the outworking of Brexit and Northern Ireland.

“We need to move forward for the benefit of the people of Northern Ireland in terms of economy, in terms of jobs, in terms of public services,” the Fianna Fáil leader said.

Deal

It is understood the UK government will introduce two statutory instruments at Westminster to give legislative effect to the commitments it has made on trade and sovereignty.

The return of Stormont will also see the Treasury release a £3.3 billion package to support under-pressure public services in Northern Ireland. The financial package includes money to settle the demands of striking public sector workers in the region this year.

Speaking on Tuesday, following meetings with other Stormont parties, Mr Donaldson said the deal would represent a “significant change” in addressing unionist concerns over Brexit’s so-called Irish Sea border.

He said: “On checks, on goods, moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and staying within the UK there will no longer be physical checks, identity checks, save where, as is normal in any part of the UK, there is a suspicion of smuggling, of criminal activity; that is the same for every part of the United Kingdom.

“On customs paperwork, customs declarations, supplementary declarations, will be gone.”

Sinn Féin has focused on the imminent return of the Stormont Assembly, with party leader Mary Lou McDonald stating that Irish unity is now within “touching distance” as she hailed the significance of her party assuming the role of Stormont first minister for the first time.

Ms McDonald said the expected appointment of her party colleague Michelle O’Neill into the job in the coming days would be a moment of “very great significance”.

UK Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said he would publish the UK government’s proposals on Wednesday.

He added: “I believe that all the conditions are now in place for the assembly to return.”

Mr Donaldson announced his support for a Stormont return after receiving the “decisive” backing of the 130-strong party executive during a five-hour meeting on Monday night.

He said DUP party officers, a key 12-strong decision-making body, had also “mandated” him to move forward on the basis he was proposing.

Support for the deal is not unanimous within the DUP and several senior figures remain opposed to the proposed agreement to restore powersharing.