On Monday Brexit secretary David Davis finally decided to pay a visit to the Irish border following months of criticism that he has not been near it since his appointment as the person responsible for navigating Britain’s exit from the EU. In an effort to finally get to grips with the very complex and meandering nature of the Irish border, Davis spent two hours in the small village of Middletown, visiting a number of sites including a cross-border autism centre.
This sudden desire to see the very thing which is arguably proving the most difficult question to settle in the Brexit negotiations would surely warrant a full-scale press trip with entourage and media in tow. Not so. Mr Davis flew very much under the radar with an unannounced, two hour flying visit and was long gone before the Member of Parliament for the area, or the media were notified. Rather than it being a constructive trip, Mr Davis was heavily criticised by politicians, business leaders and people living and working in the area and he was forced to issue an apology to Sinn Féin MP Mickey Brady for the glaring ‘oversight’ in protocol.
Back in Belfast, exploratory talks to restore devolution took place later in the week as the five main parties gathered at Stormont to meet NI Secretary of State Karen Bradley. If anyone was living in the hope that a few weeks breathing space over Easter might have given the leaders some renewed perspective, then those hopes were swiftly dashed as soon as the Sinn Féin and DUP leaders spoke to the waiting press. DUP leader Arlene Foster said Sinn Féin had acted disgracefully in publishing talks papers earlier in the year and that it would take ‘an incredibly long time’ to rebuild trust. Sinn Féin leader in the north, Michelle O’Neill accused the DUP and Tories confidence and supply deal as being the greatest obstacle to restoring devolution here.
It is hard to see any sort of an outcome or indeed, any renewed talks process before a Brexit deal is firmed up later this year. Indeed, there is a growing sense of fatigue with the whole impasse and a rising cynicism from the public in terms of any noise coming from Stormont now or in the near future.
In spite of this, things continue to trundle on here in the dysfunctional way to which we have become accustomed lately.