Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has said that she believes that the stalemate on the Northern Irish protocol could “move quite quickly”.
It comes as Tanáiste Micheál Martin said that he was not made aware in advance that Ms McDonald would be excluded from meetings with the British Foreign Secretary in Belfast on Wednesday.
Talks on Brexit collapsed on Wednesday after Ms McDonald was told that she would not be allowed into talks with James Cleverly. The SDLP also refused to attend the talks following her omission.
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The EU and the British government continue to attempt to find a solution to the stalemate on the protocol that has seen the Stormont Assembly not sit for nine months.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is in Belfast on Thursday for meetings with the leaders of all Northern Irish parties, including Ms McDonald and First Minister designate Michelle O’Neill.
Following Sinn Féin’s meeting with the Taoiseach, Ms McDonald said that she believed a solution could be found.
She said: “We believe that the window that we now have has to be grasped with both hands. “It's now on everyone in political leadership and political life to grasp this opportunity to bring matters to a conclusion and to move forward together.
“That can only happen working in good faith and working cooperatively and constructively with each other.
“We think now with goodwill and with good faith that things could move actually quite quickly.”
The Tánaiste is also in the city for meetings with Northern Irish Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris,
Speaking at Hillsborough Castle, Mr Martin said that the Department of Foreign Affairs was not told in advance that Ms McDonald was going to be excluded from a meeting with James Cleverly on Wednesday.
He said: “It was unfortunate. We certainly got no heads-up at all and I think that this should be stated.
“I would have had no difficulty if Mary Lou McDonald was at that meeting. But that is a matter for the foreign secretary.
“That said, everybody still remains focused on making progress on these issues. That's the big issue.
“Can the United Kingdom Government and the European Union continue to make progress to bring a resolution to the issues around the protocol.”
However, Mr Martin said that he would not put a timeline on the issue being resolved.
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