Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has insisted that the appointment of Liz Truss as British prime minister is "an opportunity" despite some "difficult meetings" between the two of them in the past.
He has also called on the British Government to use the window between now and 28 October, when Northern Ireland elections could be called, to agree on outstanding issues with the EU regarding the Northern Ireland Protocol and re-start the political institutions in the north.
Ms Truss has caused concern for the Irish Government and the EU in recent months, through her policies and legislation as British Foreign Secretary on the Northern Ireland Protocol, which is designed to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland.
"I know Liz Truss well," Mr Coveney said today.
"I think we like each other on a personal level. In fact I met her a few weeks ago in Westminster and we were joking around the challenges of leadership contests and so on, so the personal relationship is good but my job is to protect Irish interests and that has meant that we've had some difficult meetings, Liz Truss and I because she, of course, has outlined an approach to the Northern Ireland Protocol that I believe to be very damaging to relationships and of course to the island of Ireland as a whole.
"But there is respect there and we will work, I hope, as professional politicians to rebuild trust and to find a way forward that allows both sides to agree a way forward and allows the institutions in Northern Ireland to be-restablished."
He pointed out that if the Northern Ireland political institutions are not up and running again by 28 October, the Northern Ireland secretary is obliged by law to call new elections, "which I believe would be a big mistake because trying to find common ground and compromise in the context of an election campaign in Northern Ireland is never easy.
"So that is the window, between now and the end of October, and I hope the British Government will take it."
Asked how he felt about Ms Truss's elevation to 10 Downing Street given his differences with her in the past, Mr Coveney said: "I see it as an opportunity.
"Obviously we marked each other as foreign ministers but she also would have been in the food and agriculture brief when I was minister for agriculture so we know each other well.
"She’s prime minister now, of course, which puts her in a different place in terms of responsibility but certainly the Irish government, the Taoiseach, myself, the Tánaiste, and the European Commission, look on the change in leadership in the British government as an opportunity to try and reset relationships and I hope that in the weeks ahead, when the funeral arrangements and the mourning period for Queen Elizabeth II ends, that there will be an opportunity to have an honest and direct discussion between the British Government and the EU and obviously Ireland will be very much involved in that discussion, to try and settle some of the outstanding issues that continue to cause polarisation and political tension, linked to Brexit and the NI Protocol."
Mr Coveney said he believed those issues can be resolved and that the Protocol can be protected, "and I also think that we can respond in a comprehensive way to the legitimate concerns that some of the unionist community have in Northern Ireland.
"The EU is up for that, the Irish Government is up for that and I hope the British Government is too because to continue on the basis of unilateral action and unilateral legislation, I think, will cause a lot more problems than it will solve.
"But this isn’t really the week for that focus, given what’s happening in the United Kingdom right now.
"I think we need to give the UK as a nation the respect that they need and deserve during this period of mourning.
"Once that’s over, then we’ll get back to business in terms of focusing on trying to resolve outstanding issues."
