Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak have had a “good conversation” about the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The two leaders spoke by phone on a range of issues but the conversation mostly focused on restoring the democratic institutions in Northern Ireland and the ongoing EU-UK negotiations on the protocol and British-Irish relations more broadly.
Both recognised the importance of the ongoing engagement between the EU and the UK on the Protocol. The Taoiseach repeated the need for a solution that avoids a hard border on the island of Ireland and protects the integrity of the single market.
They spoke about the positive cooperation between the EU, UK, and US in responding to the war on Ukraine, and the Taoiseach recognised the UK’s leadership role on the matter.
Finally, the Taoiseach reiterated our concerns about the UK’s Legacy legislation and the impact of the proposed introduction of Electronic Travel Authorisation on third-country nationals travelling across the border.