Hopes for ‘nil-all draw’ in NI protocol negotiations as mood improves to resolve row
Ireland is looking for a “nil-all draw” in negotiations between the UK and the EU, its foreign affairs minister has said, amid fresh hopes a compromise can be reached over the Northern Ireland protocol row.
At a news conference in London, Simon Coveney said: “What we’re after here is a nil-all draw, where everybody can walk away feeling that they haven’t won or lost, but they can live with the outcome.”
The comments hint an improvement in the mood in Brussels and Dublin, following a lengthy stalemate with the UK on the post-Brexit trading arrangements for the region.
Mr Coveney said renewed technical discussions between both sides had gone “reasonably well” and there was now a “genuine effort” by the UK to resolve the issues caused by Brexit.
He told reporters: “I think the conversations we’re having now with the British government certainly suggest to me that we are in a different space now, one we haven’t been in for quite some time, where there is a genuine effort… on actually how we can solve these problems together.”
He added: “Political leadership is about making things happen and sometimes surprising people, and I think that’s what we need to do over the next few weeks, to provide reassurance.”
The Northern Ireland protocol was agreed by the UK and the EU as part of the Withdrawal Agreement and sought to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland after Brexit.
But the arrangements have created trade barriers on goods being shipped from Great Britain to Northern Ireland and are vehemently opposed by many unionists in Northern Ireland.
As a solution, the UK government has laid out legislation to rip up larges swathes of the Brexit agreement, which critics say in is in breach of international law.
Relations between the EU and the UK had been soured over the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, which was introduced into the Commons by Prime Minister Liz Truss when she was foreign secretary.
However, this week has seen a shift in the mood with both sides appearing more positive about the prospect of a deal.
Simon Coveney, the Irish foreign affairs minister
Mr Coveney was in London on Friday to attend a meeting of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, alongside Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris.
Mr Heaton-Harris said he was “very positive” that a solution can be found over the protocol.
He added: “I believe we’re all working in good spirit with good co-operation to deliver on the changes that are required for the protocol to be fixed or the issues within the protocol to be fixed. And we need to we need to show some progress on that.”
He defended the UK’s right to push ahead with the protocol bill, but said it would be a “redundant piece of legislation” if a deal was reached.
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Minister of State for Northern Ireland Steve Baker, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris, Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney and Minister for Justice Helen McEntee
Talks have been given a new impetus following the election of Ms Truss as prime minister and a looming deadline in Northern Ireland, where the row has stopped a devolved administration from forming.
Mr Heaton-Harris repeated his intention to call an election if the DUP does not return to the table by the legal deadline of 28 October.
Current legislation says that if Stormont is not restored by then, Mr Heaton-Harris should call a new election.
A joint communique, issued after the meeting, committed both sides to “doing everything possible” to restore power-sharing.
While both said progress on the protocol could help re-establish the executive, Mr Heaton-Harris said it was “fool’s gold” to talk about timelines, and Mr Coveney said it was “completely unrealistic” for everything to be agreed in three weeks.
“The starting point here is to build a bit of trust,” the Irish foreign minister said. “Now we need to move to the next step, which is the difficult stuff.”
Donald Trump has threatened Russia with more sanctions after a series of deadly strikes across Ukraine, as he said of Vladimir Putin: “What the hell happened to him?”
The US president appeared aghast at the conduct of his counterpart in the Kremlin after drone and missile attacks in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities left 12 people dead and dozens more injured.
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Speaking to reporters at an airport in New Jersey ahead of a flight back to Washington, Mr Trump said: “I’m not happy with Putin. I don’t know what’s wrong with him.”
“He’s killing a lot of people,” he added. “I’m not happy about that.”
Mr Trump – who said he’s “always gotten along with” Mr Putin – told reporters he would consider more sanctions against Moscow.
“He’s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don’t like it at all,” he said.
Ukraine said the barrage of strikes overnight into Sunday was the biggest aerial attack of the war so far, with 367 drones and missiles fired by Russian forces.
It came despite Mr Trump repeatedly talking up the chances of a peace agreement. He even spoke to Mr Putin on the phone for two hours last week.
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Hundreds of drones fired at Ukraine
‘Shameful’ attacks
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine is ready to sign a ceasefire deal, and suggested Russia isn’t serious about signing one.
In a statement after the latest attacks on his country, he urged the US and other national leaders to increase the pressure on Mr Putin, saying silence “only encourages” him.
Mr Trump’s envoy for the country, Keith Kellogg, later demanded a ceasefire, describing the Russian attacks as “shameful”.
Three children were among those killed in the attacks, explosions shaking the cities of Kyiv, Odesa, and Mykolaiv.
Ukrainian siblings Tamara, 12, Stanislav, eight, and Roman, 17, were killed in Russian airstrikes. Pic: X/@Mariana_Betsa
Before the onslaught, Russia said it had faced a Ukrainian drone attack on Sunday. It said around 100 were intercepted and destroyed near Moscow and in central and southern regions.
The violence has escalated despite Russia and Ukraine completing the exchange of 1,000 prisoners each over the past three days.
Donald Trump says he will delay the imposition of 50% tariffs on goods entering the United States from the European Union until July, as the two sides attempt to negotiate a trade deal.
It comes after the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said in a post on social media site X that she had spoken to Mr Trump and expressed that they needed until 9 July to “reach a good deal”.
The US president had last Friday threatened to bring in the 50% tariffs from 1 June, as European leaders said they were ready to respond with their own measures.
But Mr Trump has now said that date has been put back to 9 July to allow more time for negotiations with the 27-member bloc, with the phone call appearing to smooth over tensions for now at least.
Speaking on Sunday before boarding Air Force One for Washington DC, Mr Trump told reporters that he had spoken to Ms Von der Leyen and she “wants to get down to serious negotiations” and she vowed to “rapidly get together and see if we can work something out”.
The US president, in comments on his Truth Social platform, had reignited fears last Friday of a trade war between the two powers when he said talks were “going nowhere” and the bloc was “very difficult to deal with”.
Mr Trump told the media in Morristown, New Jersey, on Sunday that Ms Von der Leyen “just called me… and she asked for an extension in the June 1st date. And she said she wants to get down to serious negotiation”.
“We had a very nice call and I agreed to move it. I believe July 9th would be the date. That was the date she requested. She said we will rapidly get together and see if we can work something out,” the US president added.
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Shortly after, he wrote on Truth Social: “I agreed to the extension – July 9, 2025 – It was my privilege to do so.”
On his so-called “liberation day” last month, Mr Trump unleashed tariffs on many of America’s trade partners. But since then he’s backed down in a spiralling tit-for-tat tariff face-off with China, and struck a deal with the UK.
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Much of his most incendiary rhetoric on trade has been directed at Brussels, though, even going as far as to claim the EU was created to rip the US off.
Responding to his 50% tariff threat, EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said: “EU-US trade is unmatched and must be guided by mutual respect, not threats.
“We stand ready to defend our interests.”
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