Taoiseach calls for all sides to ‘dial down the rhetoric’ on NI protocol

The plea comes after former UUP leader David Trimble accuses the Irish government and others of ‘escalating tensions’ in the North

David Trimble, the former Ulster Unionist Party leader who helped broker the Good Friday Agreement, said the protocol risked a return to violence as it had “shattered” the constitutional position of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom

The Taoiseach has urged the DUP to stick with the Northern Ireland protocol which he said can be made to operate in a more effective manner.

The British parliament will debate a petition, organised by the Democratic Unionist Party, tomorrow calling for the protocol to be scrapped.

The petition, which received more than 142,000 signatures, said that any barriers to seamless trade between Britain and the North must be immediately removed.

In an opinion piece ...