Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said Ireland has been “extraordinarily helpful to the British government” after the Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris appeared to criticise his remarks on Irish unity.
He also said members of the Irish government were “the adults in the room” during post-Brexit negotiations.
Senior ministers from the UK and Irish governments remain at odds over comments by Mr Varadkar, branded by the British as “unhelpful”.
On Monday, Mr Heaton-Harris referenced remarks made by the Taoiseach around Irish unity and the collapse of Stormont.
Mr Varadkar had expressed his belief that he would see unification within his lifetime. He was also raising the potential for a “plan B” if devolved government in Northern Ireland is not restored by the autumn.
Mr Heaton-Harris said “unhelpful comments down in Dublin resonate up here amongst the unionist community” during his efforts to get the Stormont Assembly restored.
Asked on Thursday about the relationship between the two governments following the remarks, Mr Varadkar said he had not spoken to Northern Ireland Secretary since their meeting in Belfast on Monday.
However, he said Tánaiste Micheál Martin “should be speaking to him today”.
Mr Varadkar added that he will be personally seeing his counterpart British prime minister Rishi Sunak in Spain at the start of October.
“I think relations with the British government are much better than they were. They’ve been up and down since the referendum on Brexit.
“They’ve been much better than they were. As I said the other day, I think we as a government have been extraordinarily helpful to the British government.
“During my time as Taoiseach, we’ve negotiated three agreements. First, the backstop with Theresa May.
“When they couldn’t get up through Parliament, we sat down with Boris Johnson and negotiated a new agreement, which was the Protocol.
“When they couldn’t stick by that agreement, we didn’t throw our toys out of the pram, we were the adults in the room, and we sat down with the British government and through the European Union came to a third agreement, which is the Windsor [Framework] and we expect that now to be implemented in good faith.”
