Brexit: Call for Bertie Ahern apology over 'degrading' NI Protocol remarks

Former taoiseach (Irish PM) Bertie Ahern has been called on to apologise after he said loyalists in "ghettos" had "no clue" about the UK-EU Northern Ireland deal.

Mr Ahern said people in "east Belfast and the ghettos and the areas where you are likely to get trouble" did not know how the NI Protocol worked.

They saw it as the "Dublin government taking over", he added.

East Belfast MP Gavin Robinson said the remarks were "demeaning and degrading".

The MP for the Democratic Unionist Party, who opposes the protocol, said his constituents "well understand" how it affects them.

Mr Ahern made his remarks at an event hosted by the Brexit Institute of Dublin City University on Thursday.

The protocol is the post-Brexit trade deal that prevents a hard Irish border by keeping Northern Ireland inside the EU's single market for goods.

This has created a trade border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

It's controversial among unionist and loyalists communities as it is seen as weakening Northern Ireland's place in the union.

Mr Robinson said: "To associate east Belfast with a ghetto and suggest loyalists are not able to understand the protocol is demeaning and degrading.

"People in my constituency who can't get their Amazon parcels from another part of the United Kingdom well understand the impact of the protocol.

"Rather than belittling those who oppose the protocol, Bertie Ahern should seek to understand why not a single elected unionist in Northern Ireland supports the protocol."

Mr Ahern, a former Fianna Fáil leader and one of the architects of the Good Friday Agreement, said: "I spend a lot of my life still in the north.

"The reality is in east Belfast and in the ghettos and in the areas where you're likely to get trouble, is that people haven't got a clue about the protocol, not a clue.

"They see it as identity. They see it as a road to the Dublin Government taking over again and this is a pathway to that.

"That's how they see it. Even those who you might consider to be a bit more intelligent and articulate. That is the difficulty."

The chairman of the Loyalist Communities Council, David Campbell, described Mr Ahern's remarks as "inappropriate and offensive".

He said Mr Ahern's respect for unionists had been a key factor in improving north-south relationships during Good Friday Agreement negotiations and called for him to withdraw his remarks.

The operation of the protocol is the subject of ongoing talks between the EU and the UK.

Negotiators from both sides are due to meet on Friday to assess whether progress has been made.

The protocol is the part of the Brexit deal that prevents a hard Irish border by keeping Northern Ireland inside the EU's single market for goods.

That also creates a new trade border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, something the EU accepts is causing difficulties for many businesses.

It has proposed a package of reforms but the UK is seeking more fundamental changes.

The UK is threatening to use Article 16 of the protocol, which allows for unilateral "safeguard" measures if the deal is leading to serious practical problems or causing diversion of trade.

Those safeguards would amount to suspending parts of the deal, something the EU believes would be unjustified.

On Monday Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "We would rather find a negotiated solution to the problems created by the Northern Ireland Protocol, and that still seems possible.

"But if we do invoke Article 16 - which by the way is a perfectly legitimate part of that protocol - we will do so reasonably and appropriately."