Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Arlene Foster has said she wants to see a "sensible" Brexit that worked for both North and South.
She was speaking after meeting Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in Government Buildings on Friday. Ms Foster said she wanted to see an arrangement that worked for everybody after the United Kingdom left the European Union.
"Not just in Northern Ireland from my perspective but of course in the Republic of Ireland as well. So it is about a sensible Brexit," she said.
We told the British PM that her govt is in default of the Good Friday. It also needs to ensure that any arrangement with the DUP Is public pic.twitter.com/usdPwKPF8E
— Gerry Adams (@GerryAdamsSF) June 15, 2017
“I know people want to talk about soft Brexit, hard Brexit, all of these sorts of things, but what we want to see is a sensible Brexit and one that works for everybody.”
Ms Foster said she believed the deadline of June 29th to reach a deal with Sinn Féin on power-sharing at Stormont could be met. Talks between the two parties have been arranged for Monday.
Asked if she expected to be First Minister in the Northern Executive again soon, she said: “It takes two to tango. We’re ready to dance.”
Describing the meeting with Mr Varadkar as useful and pleasant, Ms Foster said she wanted them to have a good working relationship. “We know each other and we understand each other,” she said.
Negotiations
She said the DUP's negotiations with British prime minister Theresa May and the Conservative Party on forming a minority government in Westminster would continue through the weekend and next week.
She denied claims from Sinn Féin that a deal with the Conservatives could represent a breach of the Belfast Agreement.
"The Irish Government were signatories to the Belfast Agreement as well. They take their role very seriously and that's fine but they also have to acknowledge that there is the consent principle which underlines everything in the Good Friday Agreement," she said.
“There is an irony to being lectured about our role in terms of the national government of the United Kingdom when Sinn Féin wants to be in government here in the Republic of Ireland.
“What would happen then? Would we then say that they shouldn’t be in government in the Republic of Ireland. You can’t have it both ways.”
The Taoiseach told the DUP the ongoing discussions on the formation of a new Government in London was a matter for the parties represented at Westminster, “but noted the need to avoid any outcome which could interfere with devolution and the prospects of re-establishing the Executive”, his spokeman said.
In separate meetings with the DUPand Sinn Féin , he stressed the need to ensure Brexit did not impact negatively on the Belfast Agreement and the peace process.
Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams, speaking ahead of his party's meeting with Mr Varadkar, said he welcomed the new Taoiseach naming Brexit and the North as priority issues.
Border poll
He said Mr Varadkar should raise the issue of a border poll with Ms May. He said his party was “quite relaxed” about when it should take place, although they would like to see it happen within the next five years.
Mr Adams said Sinn Féin had discussed Brexit in an “assertive and frank” way when party representatives met Ms May on Thursday.
“We gave her an Irish solution to what is essentially an English problem, and that is special designated status for the North which doesn’t affect the Constitutional issue but does ensure that there’ll be no hard economic border on the island of Ireland,” he said.
Accompanying Mr Varadkar at the meeting was the top Brexit official in the Department of the Taoiseach John Callinan, secretary general at the Department Martin Fraser, and long-term adviser Brian Murphy. Ms Foster was accompanied by the North’s former economy minister Simon Hamilton and adviser Timothy Hamilton.
Mr Adams was joined by Sinn Féin’s Northern leader Michelle O’Neill, his deputy leader Mary-Lou McDonald and Fermanagh South Tyrone MP Michelle Gildernew.
