Taoiseach Enda Kenny has commended the "strength of solidarity" to tackle post-Brexit problems that he said was evident between Government and Northern Executive Ministers at a meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council on Friday.
Mr Kenny, First Minister Arlene Foster, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and their respective Ministers considered what the Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan described as a "Brexit impact assessment" when they met in Armagh.
Mr Kenny made a point of stressing that he and Ms Foster enjoyed a strong relationship. This followed recent disagreement between the Taoiseach and Ms Foster over the Dublin civic forum on Brexit and claims by the First Minister that Dublin was seeking to "poach" foreign jobs from Northern Ireland.
Mr Kenny said that in the past week he and Ms Foster held three positive meetings, in Enniskillen last Sunday, in Dublin on Tuesday and in Armagh at the North-South meeting.
The Taoiseach also obliquely addressed the row over Ms Foster’s allegation that the Government and the IDA were trying to take jobs targeted for Northern Ireland. He was pointed in saying that when Ms Foster and Mr McGuinness travel on a trade mission to China next month, he has offered the assistance and services of the Irish Ambassador in Beijing .
Notwithstanding such positive comments, little concrete emerged from the meeting about how to address the challenges of the UK leaving the European Union.
Unity of purpose
They focused on the unity of purpose required to ensure the best outcome for the island of Ireland post-Brexit. However, they also acknowledged that ahead of a clear plan from the British government, uncertainty will remain.
Mr McGuinness said the British government “don’t even know themselves what Brexit means because all we get are reports out of London suggesting huge differences between key players”.
" That said, we have a responsibility to all of the people of this island, North and South, to work together to ensure that as we go forward we are in the best position to deal with whatever confronts us when article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty is triggered."
Mr McGuinness also emphasised the importance of a working group of senior North-South civil servants formed after the last North-South Ministerial Council meeting in the summer to identify the key issues flowing from Brexit.
“There is a long way to go and a long hand to be played out over the course of the next while. We can only be successful if we can play a common hand together,” he said.
Mr McGuinness also said how the negotiations unfold could have an impact on stability and security.
“The success of the peace process should not in any way be underplayed. We still have people who are hostile to our institutions. We still have people who are committed to violence and who would wish to plunge us back into the past, and who would seek if there were any effort made to install a hard Border between the North and South to use that against the peace process,” he said.
Ms Foster said the meeting was “very useful”, while the Taoiseach and Mr Flanagan characterised this 23rd North-South Ministerial Council meeting as the “best ever”. Mr Kenny said that it was “important for the island of Ireland that there be that strength of solidarity” between the North and South and “that was the common consensus of the meeting today, which I very much welcome”.
