Irish ForeignMin: Ireland, Britain to seek to re-establish Northern Ireland talks

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told Irish broadcaster RTE on Thursday, the Irish and British governments will seek a way to get talks on restoring Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government restarted, Reuters reports.

Key Quotes:

“The focus now has to be on trying to get these discussions back on track so that the two governments can find a way to find a way of ensuring that the institutions that are the heartbeat of the Good Friday Agreement can be re-established.” 

“Certainly there is no appetite to move towards direct rule (from London)... The statement from the DUP was so unwelcome and so disappointing, but that doesn’t mean we give up.”

Sources close to the negotiations told Reuters that some DUP members had issues with the proposed compromise and “robustly raised” their concerns earlier this week.

“Those gaps were closed, that’s why I don’t understand (that) the commentary yesterday was as definitive as it was.”