Mr Paisley said,
“The public criticism was made after Coveney - who is not negotiating with the U.K. - threatened that if article 16 was triggered the EU would have to withdraw from the entire trade agreement and move to WTO rules. This was dismissed by EU Vice President Maros Sefcovic.
The exchange indicates that the Irish Foreign Minister is more of a trouble-maker than a deal maker or problem solver.
Coveney clearly doesn’t want the issues caused by the Protocol resolved, instead he wants to talk up the problems. This is classic Irish tactics of threatening and hiding behind the EU. Leo Varadkar took a similar approach with the watch tower photos scandal during the actual trade negotiations.
The fact remains that the Protocol has failed businesses and consumers. The Government has accepted that the conditions have been met to trigger Article 16 but are focused on a this negotiations. Evidently the Irish government’s constant negative intervention is not helping negotiate a solution. It’s high time Coveney and co stepped back and listened rather than lecture us all.”