Is Rishi Sunak about to battle Brexiteers to restore powersharing in Northern Ireland?

Could the British prime minister be about to enter battle with Brexiteers in a renewed bid to see powersharing restored in Northern Ireland?

A report in the Daily Telegraph headlined “Rishi Sunak offers to sacrifice Brexit freedoms to re-establish government in Northern Ireland” last night would suggest this is the case.

As Colin Gleeson reports in The Irish Times, next month marks the two-year anniversary of the collapse of powersharing after former DUP first minister Paul Givan quit in protest at his party’s opposition to post-Brexit trading arrangements.

The DUP has come under increasing pressure to end its boycott. A new deadline for calling a fresh Northern Ireland Assembly election if a Stormont Executive is not formed has been set for February 8th.

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The DUP has been fiercely critical of the trading arrangements introduced as a result of the Windsor Framework arguing that it separates Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK and represents an unacceptable violation of the UK’s constitutional integrity.

According to the report in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Sunak has sought to placate the DUP with an undertaking to introduce a requirement that all new laws are screened to ensure they will not create extra trade barriers in the Irish Sea.

All legislation would have to be accompanied by a ministerial statement confirming it did not have a “significant adverse effect” on internal UK trade.

A UK government spokesman was last night not commenting on “speculation”.

However, the move has angered Tory MPs who have warned that introducing such a policy would make it almost impossible for Britain to diverge from EU rules.

For instance Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary, said: “This means we will not diverge at all, and we will have ended up with Theresa May’s Chequers deal in all but name.

“I voted against the Windsor Framework because it subordinates part of the UK to the EU. This mechanism would restore part of the EU hegemony over us.”

Separately, in an indication of the pressure on the DUP, its leader, Jeffrey Donaldson, has revealed he was threatened over his involvement in negotiations with the UK government to restore Stormont but said he would not be “deflected” from efforts to secure a deal.

As Seanín Graham reports, he delivered an emotional address to the House of Commons, saying the threat was issued earlier that day because of the “stirring up that is going on” within unionist factions.

He rounded on those behind it, who, he said, had “never put on a uniform” and “who haven’t served our country”.

Among them was an individual who “didn’t even vote at the last election”, he said.

Mr Donaldson spoke for five minutes without interruption during a Westminster debate on a Bill for a new deadline to restore the devolved institutions by February 8th.

On our opinion pages Newton Emerson looks at the options for governing Northern Ireland in the absence of restoring powersharing.

He writes: “Time has run out for indirect rule. There is no longer any defensible reason to keep Northern Ireland in limbo if devolution is not promptly restored.”

It will be interesting to see if Sunak’s reported initiative to restore powersharing materialises amid growing frustration that the Stormont Assembly has been shuttered for so long.

Refugee crisis centre stage in Republic

Senior Government figures in the Republic will gather today at a Cabinet subcommittee meeting to consider the ongoing refugee accommodation crisis.

On the agenda will be the creation of a package of supports for the parts of Ireland that are hosting the most refugees amid the now frequent protests against housing for asylum seekers.

Aside from the 80,000 or so Ukrainians living in Ireland having fled the Russian invasion of their country, there are more than 25,000 asylum seekers from other places living here.

In our lead story today Jack Horgan-Jones details how Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman has said Ireland should support Ukrainians to return home by rebuilding infrastructure and possibly paying for travel back there.

Mr O’Gorman said he also expects between 13,000 and 15,000 asylum seekers from other countries to arrive in Ireland annually from now on.

He made the remarks in an interview with Horgan-Jones and Hugh Linehan on The Irish Times Inside Politics podcast.

Elsewhere, Government TDs have expressed concerns over plans to cut accommodation and social protection supports for newly arriving Ukrainian refugees, expressing fears mothers and children will end up homeless and reduced welfare payments of €38.80 are too small.

The issues were raised by Fine Gael’s Fergus O’Dowd and Fianna Fáil TD Éamon Ó Cuív at the Committee on Social Protection on Wednesday.

Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys promised to bring their concerns to that Cabinet subcommittee meeting today.

Best Reads

Miriam Lord looks at the icy Dáil exchange between Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Independent TD Marian Harkin after the latter said she hoped the Government would not ignore “the national conversation” around large groups of male asylum seekers arriving in communities leading to fears among women that some of these men might attack them. The Taoiseach was scathing in his denunciation of Ms Harkin’s question.

RTÉ's woes are back making front page news. Jennifer Bray outlines how a new report has found that the number of showings planned for the RTÉ Toy Show the Musical was never enough to break even while the amount of sponsorship secured was overstated.

Our Europe Correspondent Naomi O’Leary reports on a sad story from Italy – where online wars brought tragedy to a small-town pizzeria.

Another podcast plug here but a timely one as the campaigns for the upcoming referendums on family and care are set to begin in earnest today. Jennifer Bray offers a quick, clear explainer on the issues involved in our In the News podcast hosted by Bernice Harrison.

This morning An Coimisiún Toghcháin, the Electoral Commission will launch its information campaign which is designed to offer neutral information on the questions being posed in the referendum. The National Women’s Council meanwhile will launch their campaign for Yes votes in both referendums.

Playbook

Tánaiste Micheál Martin is first up in the Dáil and will take parliamentary questions on his Foreign Affairs brief at 9am.

Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan is next up at 10.30am.

Leaders’ Questions is at noon.

Government Business in the afternoon (from 1.34pm onwards) includes statements on post-Brexit UK import controls.

Proposed legislation from the Labour Party aimed at ensuring equality for all families and closing gaps in the rights of children of same-sex parents will be debated from 7.20pm.

The Seanad is not sitting today.

It is quiet in committee-land as well with just four meetings, two of them private.

The Revenue Commissioners are up before the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee from 9.30am. Issues up for examination include the assessment and collection of Local Property Tax and the pandemic-era Tax Warehousing Scheme.

The Committee on Public Petitions and the Ombudsman will meet at 1.30pm to consider a wide range of public petitions.

Here is the full Dáil schedule and the Committee schedule.

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