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Restoring powersharing in Northern Ireland is crucial to preventing a drastic worsening of Anglo-Irish relations post-Brexit, former Stormont first minister Peter Robinson has warned.<\/p>\nRestoring powersharing in Northern Ireland is crucial to preventing a drastic worsening of Anglo-Irish relations post-Brexit, former Stormont first minister Peter Robinson has warned.<\/p>\n
In a stark message to the current generation of politicians in the region, Mr Robinson stressed the need to put their differences aside, claiming it was \u201cintolerable\u201d some of them appeared to have \u201cturned their backs\u201d on the electorate.<\/p>\n
In a speech in Co Donegal, the ex-Democratic Unionist leader said there was the potential for a marked deterioration in the relationship between the UK and Irish governments once the kinship fostered by their respective membership of the European Union was gone.<\/p>\n
Mr Robinson said already fraying relations between politicians north and south of the border in Ireland would also worsen once Brexit occurs and cautioned that communities within Northern Ireland had become more \u201cpolarized\u201d due to the \u201chysteria\u201d whipped up over the UK\u2019s exit from the EU.<\/p>\n
Addressing the MacGill summer school in Glenties, he said tensions had been exacerbated by the collapse of Stormont, highlighting that the implosion of powersharing had also put associated north-south and east-west political structures bodies into cold storage.<\/p>\n
\u201cCentral to protecting the helpful and cordial set of relationships, that have been built up over many years, is the rebirth and smooth operation of the Northern Ireland Assembly, its Executive, along with the North-South and East-West institutions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout each and all of those parts being in place, and working, relationships will suffer \u2013 perhaps drastically.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe absence of the complete network of connections leaves us all vulnerable to a downward spiral which may lead to toxicity.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the risks to Anglo-Irish relations, Mr Robinson said the EU had provided a \u201ccommon room\u201d where the UK and Irish Republic had kept in regular contact, fostering a sense of \u201cfriendship and conviviality\u201d.<\/p>\n
The former East Belfast MP said there was comradeship of being part of the same team, adding: \u201cDistance and detachment will inevitably cool the kinship.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no question that the two governments will continue to claim everlasting friendship and affection complete with copious commitments to maintaining their unique bond, but any lucid thinker will realise that the more remote the new relationship becomes the more it will involve a greater level of competition which will cause the gap to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said a shared outlook on certain issues would give way to more competition and greater protection of separate national interests and warned that such rivalry would undoubtedly lead to \u201cclashes and struggles\u201d in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is easy to imagine circumstances, in the future, where the Republic takes up cudgels alongside the other EU states which are hostile to the United Kingdom\u2019s interests,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is just as easy to envisage the impact that the resultant resentment will have on the ties between the two nations, particularly if a pattern of opposition develops.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Robinson said the network of arrangements and structures linked to the devolution settlement \u2013 such as the North South Ministerial Council and the British Irish Council \u2013 were finely balanced.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe arrangements have allowed unionists and nationalists to participate fully within a framework of relationships \u2013 and do so in a relaxed manner with mutually beneficial outcomes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt worked, and moreover, no-one felt threatened by it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Robinson said unionist relations with the Irish government had undoubtedly worsened throughout the \u201cdisruptive, distracting and wearisome\u201d Brexit process.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnionists believe Dublin has been completely self-serving and unnecessarily bellicose during this process,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe the absence of a working North-South institution has exacerbated the situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf, at the end of the negotiations, there is the potential of UK and RoI relationships cooling and a worsening in unionist relationships with Dublin the spill-over consequences on relationships within Northern Ireland are clear and alarming.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cUnquestionably the parties and traditions in Northern Ireland have become more polarised as a result of the Brexit hysteria \u2013 much of it was avoidable but an absence of the political cohesion that a functioning Executive has provided in the past has intensified the division.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Robinson did not single out any of the present day leaders in Northern Ireland as he expressed frustration at the failure to find a way forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is intolerable that there are politicians who appear to have turned their backs on the will and needs of the community they are elected to serve,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt does not matter which section of the community I talk to, the views are identical.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe message is clear: the public believe that the consequences of not having a functioning Assembly \u2013 the impact on our health service and education system, the infrastructure projects that need to be started, the needs of those who have suffered institutional abuse and await action, those who need ministers to be searching for jobs and investment to get the country buzzing again and the countless other priorities \u2013 are far more urgent and of greater importance than any of the given reasons for refusing to operate the Assembly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Robinson suggested that if the differences dividing the DUP and Sinn Fein could not be overcome prior to restoring Stormont, they should be resolved in a parallel process, with devolution returning in the interim.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no more important task for Assembly Members to perform than working to restore the institutions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI contend that the revival of the Assembly and Executive is an imperative in a post-Brexit era. It represents our best hope of peace, stability and reconciliation.\u201d<\/p>\n