Protocol row at centre of political talks in NI

Efforts to resolve the row over the Northern Ireland Protocol will be raised during talks later between Stormont parties and political leaders from Dublin and London.

Taoiseach (Irish PM) Leo Varadkar will hold talks in Belfast with representatives of the largest parties.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is also set to visit Stormont on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the tánaiste (Irish deputy PM) and Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin will also carry out a series of engagements in Northern Ireland, including a meeting with NI Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris at Hillsborough.

Stormont's power-sharing government collapsed almost a year ago when the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) pulled its first minister out of office in protest against the protocol.

Part of the UK's Brexit deal with the EU, the protocol keeps Northern Ireland aligned with the EU's single market for goods, avoiding the need for a hard border with the Republic of Ireland after Brexit.

However, it also creates a new trade border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, something the EU accepts is causing difficulties for many businesses.

Most politicians elected to the Stormont Assembly want the protocol to remain, but some unionists say it undermines Northern Ireland's place in the UK.

The UK government has argued the protocol is not working and plans to override most of the agreement if the EU does not agree to changes.

The government set in place a deadline of 19 January for the parties at Stormont to form a power-sharing executive.

But the DUP has said it will not do so until there are significant changes to the protocol.

The deadline, therefore, is highly unlikely to be met next week, which means Mr Heaton-Harris is expected to trigger another three-month period to allow the protocol negotiations to make progress.

During his visit Mr Varadkar will meet the Northern Ireland Brexit Business working group, while Mr Martin will visit Armagh for the launch of a shared island civic society fund and meet victims and survivors of Troubles-related violence.

The Irish government said Thursday's high-level visits were a clear sign of its commitment to resolving the difficulties over the protocol and helping "ensure that the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement can once again operate effectively".

On Wednesday, a political row broke out after Sinn Féin said its party president Mary Lou McDonald had been excluded from all-party talks involving UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly.

Mr Cleverly, who met other political and business leaders, said the party's deputy leader, Michelle O'Neill, had been invited and "chose not to come".

It is understood Ms McDonald was not invited as she is the leader of the opposition in the Dáil (lower house of Irish Parliament) and that the UK government considers it against protocol for Mr Cleverly to meet her before meeting his counterpart in the Irish government.

The UK government also pointed out that there had been meetings with Northern Ireland political parties in the past where Ms McDonald had not attended, including when Prime Minister Rishi Sunak visited Belfast in December.

During his visit on Wednesday, Mr Cleverly, who is leading for the UK in negotiations with the EU over the protocol, also said he was committed to finding a resolution that would restore power sharing at Stormont.

The latest round of political activity follows a UK agreement with the EU on customs data sharing.

That agreement was reached in talks on Monday between Mr Cleverly and the Vice President of the European Commission, Maros Šefčovič, which both sides said provided a "new basis" for talks.