TAOISEACH Michéal Martin has said politicians must return to Stormont after next week's election as tensions around the Northern Ireland Protocol intensify.
Speaking at a Dáil parliamentary committee yesterday, the Fianna Fáil leader weighed into the debate over the post-Brexit arrangement as he urged political parties to work "collectively" after the May 5 poll.
There are concerns that the DUP may refuse to return to power-sharing amid ongoing opposition to the protocol which effectively puts a trade border down the Irish Sea.
There is also speculation that the British Government is planning to use the Queen’s Speech on May 10 to threaten to tear up the protocol that was agreed with the EU as part of the Brexit deal.
The taoiseach was addressing the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Good Friday Agreement, where he appeared to discuss his government's shared island project to boost cross-border ties.
"Next week, the people of Northern Ireland will vote to provide a new democratic mandate for the devolved power-sharing institutions at Stormont," he said.
"It is vital for the future of Northern Ireland and for relationships on these islands that the political parties take their mandates from the Assembly elections and move quickly to form a new Executive.
"That is what the people of Northern Ireland want.
"This is a moment for political leaders to live up to the commitments of the Good Friday Agreement, which is overwhelmingly supported by people across this island."
He suggested a solution on the protocol may be brokered after polling day.
"My view is that United Kingdom Government and the European Union have within themselves, or within what's been discussed already, the landing zones to reach a resolution of all of those issues," he said.
The taoiseach said the EU had responded to some of the "legitimate" concerns raised about the protocol.
"I think after the election, we hope we can pick up the baton again."
The DUP collapsed the powersharing Executive earlier this year in protest at the protocol insisting they will not re-enter government while the so-called Irish Sea border remains.
Their election manifesto pledges that any new arrangements must restore Northern Ireland's place in the UK internal market.
Yesterday Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, launching the DUP manifesto in Co Armagh, insisted that he believed that people did want to see the Stormont work.
Earlier the UK's Europe Minister James Cleverly says there was an 'impasse' in negotiations with EU over the protocol.
Meanwhile Sinn Féin's Conor Murphy has said ideology must be taken out of negotiations around the protocol.
The finance minister also urged the restoration of the Executive following next week's Assembly election, arguing that its collapse has had no impact on protocol negotiations but, has halted the planned three-year Stormont budget.
