Opinion

Editorial: Scene set for protocol progress

THE resumption of talks on the Northern Ireland Protocol marks the start of what will hopefully be a process that finally finds solutions to issues that have dogged relations between London, Dublin and Brussels for too long.

Eight months after the EU and UK last met about the impasse over post-Brexit trading arrangements, officials took part in 'technical talks' yesterday in an atmosphere of renewed optimism that progress can be made.

Levels of trust had reached their nadir in June with the introduction at Westminster of the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, which would give ministers the power to dump parts of the agreement they don't like.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar observed later that month that he had never seen relations between London and Dublin so bad.

However, the absence of Boris Johnson's toxic influence appears to have transformed the political environment.

Liz Truss, while reserving the threat to unilaterally override the protocol, has made clear her preference for a negotiated solution.

Her foreign secretary, James Cleverly, spoke to EU chief negotiator Maros Sefcovic last week and met his Irish counterpart Simon Coveney last night to discuss the protocol and other issues.

Today Mr Coveney is also due to attend a British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference in London alongside new Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris and NIO minister Steve Baker.

Mr Baker's remarkable public apology for past behaviour towards Ireland and the EU has also helped change the mood, as will Mr Varadkar's admission yesterday that the protocol is a "little too strict".

The scene has certainly been set for constructive negotiations, with the landing zone widely expected to be a relaxation of checks on goods from Britain that remain in Northern Ireland.

Mr Varadkar said yesterday there was a "window of opportunity" over the coming weeks to see if agreement can be reached. Taoiseach Micheál Martin said while there will be difficulties, he believes there is "good faith on all sides".

A deal that can command broad confidence by October 28, when the Secretary of State will come under pressure to call another assembly election if no executive has been formed, may well prove too ambitious.

But there is now genuine hope that when it comes to marking the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement next April, it will be against a background of much-improved relations between the UK and Ireland and a power-sharing executive back working for the people of Northern Ireland.