Efforts to defuse conflict over Northern Ireland’s special Brexit status could make a huge breakthrough via a compromise on plant and animal health standards, Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney has said. Mr Coveney told the Dáil’s EU Affairs Committee that he believed progress is being made on resolving the London-Brussels conflicts over implementing the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol which gives the North special access to both European Union and British markets. Read MoreBut Mr Coveney told Fianna Fáil’s spokesman, Seán Haughey, that efforts to get a compromise over so-called “SPS checks” – which involve plant and animal health affecting many food products – would be hugely helpful. The minister told Fine Gael’s Neale Richmond that the UK has doctrinaire reasons for refusing to sign up to the EU standards which are widely accepted across the globe. Mr Coveney said the EU appeared unduly legalistic in its approach to the issues still to be resolved.

Source: Irish Independent April 27, 2021 18:56 UTC