Mr Robinson said,
“Sir Robert Buckland seems to be confused. It’s not often he is wrong, but on this he is.
The Republic of Ireland has no legal basis for governing Northern Ireland. Such a step would be a further breach of the Belfast and successor agreements.
It is the arrangements flowing from the NI Protocol alone that are stopping the formation of an Executive. We are focused on getting this right and restoring the balance. We will not be distracted by Sir Robert’s confused viewpoint.
Rather than issue hollow threats about some version of Joint Authority, Sir Robert and his colleagues would be better to focus on restoring Northern Ireland’s place within the U.K. Internal Market.
Replacing the Protocol with arrangements that unionists, as well as nationalists can support, will provide a solid foundation for the restoration of devolution on a cross community basis.”