Irish officials met with the European Commission on Tuesday to talk over the incident and review how communication can be improved in the future, in a meeting said to have been positive. Anything to do with Northern Ireland is to receive additional scrutiny, with the team of Ireland’s Commissioner Mairead McGuinness brought in to be consulted where needed. This is thought to have contributed to the circumstances that saw Article 16 used without an awareness of the political problems it would cause on January 29. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is set to take questions from MEPs in the European Parliament over the affair on Wednesday. Irish officials were only informed after an initial version of a regulation that contained the sensitive Article 16 of the Northern Ireland

Source: The Irish Times February 09, 2021 20:49 UTC