UK prime minister Keir Starmer has called for increased cooperation between the UK and Ireland in an “age of dramatic uncertainty”.
Starmer, who is in Cork this evening ahead of a UK-Ireland summit in the city on Friday, said in a speech that the UK and Ireland were focused on “bolstering” shared prosperity and increasing the security of the seas.
He described the present as “an age of dramatic uncertainty”, pointing to the events of the last two weeks, adding that cooperation was “more important now than it ever has been”.
The prime minister said both governments were focused on “turning the page on the turbulent Brexit years”. He said: “The relationship was not as good as it should have been in those years”.
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“There is a real determination on both our parts that we will improve, reset and take that forward in a materially different way.”
He was speaking at an event in Cork’s city hall on the eve of the summit.
In a speech at City Hall on Thursday, the Taoiseach committed to “deepen cooperation” with the UK on infrastructure, housing, energy and climate, while “protecting our critical infrastructure, including under our seas”.
Earlier on Thursday while visiting Lisburn, Starmer said Anglo-Irish relations are in a “better place” following reset efforts after Brexit.
He said he “genuinely” felt the relationship was “in a better place, and most people who talk to me say it’s in a better place”.
“I’m pleased about that, but if you are in a better place, you’ve got to keep working at it. The UK-Ireland relationship is in a better place, and I’ll continue in that vein,” he said.
Following his engagements in Northern Ireland, the prime minister travelled to Cork on Thursday afternoon
He was met at Cork Airport by the Taoiseach, Micheál Martin. The prime minister and the Taoiseach then travelled onwards to a business roundtable being held in Cork city centre on Thursday evening, and are due to meet with young people from the Ireland-UK youth forum before a cultural performance at Cork City Hall.
Several investments in the UK by Irish companies are expected during the summit, including from Enterprise Ireland clients.
Around 250 protestors gathered at City Hall, some flying Palestinian flags and also flags bearing the Iranian national colours with “Iran” printed on them, with some republican groups also present.
They accused Starmer and Martin of being complicit in genocide in Gaza and criticised Cork City Council for flying the Union flag over Cork City Hall.
Starmer made the short journey from UCC’s Centre of Executive Education across the river by car and was brought in the main entrance to Cork City Hall on MacSwiney Quay, shielded from the protesters by a line of Garda vans..
One man was arrested over a public order offence, though the protest was largely peaceful.
Earlier in Northern Ireland, Starmer said addressing soaring energy bills is “absolutely on my radar”.
Speaking to reporters in Lisburn, Starmer said money had been set aside in the budget “for energy bills, to take money off those bills” and the UK treasury would “co-ordinate” with the Northern Executive to see how this could be delivered.
“That money is there, and so what we’re looking at now is, how quickly can we work with others to translate that into money off bills in Northern Ireland,” the prime minister said.
He said this would be particularly targeted to households which use home heating oil, as “they’re the ones ... most acutely concerned”.
“We need to react as quickly, as appropriately as possible in relation to this,” the prime minister said, adding that “I’m really determined that when people are getting ripped off, we clamp down on this really early on.”
Northern Ireland has been particularly affected by the dramatic rise in the price of home heating oil following the US-Israeli attack on Iran almost two weeks ago.
Approximately 62 per cent of Northern households use oil to heat their homes and, according to the Consumer Council for Northern Ireland – which tracks home heating oil prices weekly, the average cost of 900 litres of home heating oil rose from £536.72 on February 26th to £1,037.48 on March 12th.
In a series of meetings on Thursday morning, the leaders of the North’s main political parties and the First and Deputy First Ministers discussed the urgent need for financial support with the prime minister.
The Sinn Féin leader, Mary Lou McDonald, said Starmer’s visit had “raised expectations” that he will take action to address the increasing cost of energy, and said he “needs to come up with an answer for families all across the North”.
The leader of the DUP Gavin Robinson said he had raised with Starmer the availability of “£81 million ... siting there waiting to be dispensed, and yet we have an economy minister that hasn’t started work on the business case, and a party that still seems to be reluctant to agree that figure is correct”.
Responding on behalf of Sinn Féin, which holds the economy brief, the First Minister Michelle O’Neill said the £81 million “was a £150 credit off people’s electricity bills in England, but over here it translates to £30” and the party had challenged the prime minister “to bring forward a piece of legislation that allows us to actually get that £30, the previous announcement, out into people’s pockets”.
