Joe Biden will discuss Northern Ireland with the Irish Taoiseach, Micheal Martin, when they meet next week on St Patrick’s Day, the White House has announced.
Next Wednesday’s virtual meeting will cover support for political and economic stability in the region after Brexit, among other bilateral issues as the leaders “reaffirm” the historical partnership between the two nations.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin said he would personally thank the US president “for his unstinting support for Ireland over many years, including in recent times for his support in helping to secure a positive outcome in the Brexit negotiations, as we face into the task now of making those new arrangements work well.”
Earlier, Ireland’s foreign minister Simon Coveney said the UK government deliberately undermined trust with the EU by moving to unilaterally extend the post-Brexit grace period.
The UK decided to extend the grace period – allowing importers time to adjust to new checks and procedures at the border – without EU approval, but the bloc has won backing from member states for legal action against the decision.
“I hope there won’t be legal action as it could reinforce the division, I hope we can resolve this through discussion," Mr Coveney said.
“But David Frost is an experienced negotiator, this was a deliberate move. They must have calculated it would undermine the trust between London and Brussels.”
Boris Johnson has said the Northern Ireland protocol was not working as he had expected and needed to be "corrected".
The prime minister said he did not think arrangements he agreed with the EU would involve restrictions on the movements of food products such as sausages, on parcel deliveries and on soil from Great Britain entering Northern Ireland.
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