Varadkar has reservations about NI command paper on economy

ODN

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he has some reservations about the Northern Ireland command paper, particularly in response to the language used in regard to an all-island economy.    He said Northern Ireland has the opportunity to benefit from trade and economic growth and investment coming from all parts of the world. Report by Alibhaiz. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn

Transcript

00:00 I do feel a sense of confidence from the new executive that this is here to last. Obviously

00:10 we're keen to help in any way we can, particularly around north-south issues and east-west issues.

00:15 In terms of reform, I think that should wait a bit. It's important that we allow the parties

00:21 to do their work, to get to know their reefs, their ministries, to work together. Reforms

00:29 have been made before, they can be done. I have read the summary and I don't agree with

00:34 it, as you won't be surprised to hear. As a country and as a government, we take security

00:40 and defence very seriously. We're dramatically scaling up our defence budget in the Republic

00:46 of Ireland and also we're getting more involved in international security. I see the future

00:51 of the economy here as being very bright and I think Northern Ireland has an opportunity

00:57 to leverage its access to the EU single market, being within the UK internal market as well,

01:05 and also building up the north-south economy. So I don't think it's a choice. I think Northern

01:10 Ireland has a great opportunity now to benefit from trade and economic growth and investment

01:16 coming from all parts of the world.

Transcript

Recommended