{"id":519732,"date":"2026-06-26T16:02:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T16:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/519732\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T16:02:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T16:02:18","slug":"ireland-uk-relations-more-stable-but-work-to-be-done-for-eu-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/519732\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland-UK relations more stable but work to be done for EU-UK"},"content":{"rendered":"

The relationship between Ireland and the UK has entered a more stable phase a decade on from the Brexit<\/a> vote, a business briefing hosted by law firm Matheson<\/a> has heard.<\/p>\n

However, there are a number of “substantive issues still to be resolved” between the EU and the UK despite progress being made since Britain left the bloc in early 2020.<\/p>\n

Relations between the UK, Ireland and the EU were at the centre of the discussion at the Matheson event hosted by British Ambassador to Ireland Kara Owen at her official residence in Dublin last night.<\/p>\n

The event saw contributions from former T\u00e1naiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney, and the Financial Times\u2019 chief foreign affairs commentator Gideon Rachman, alongside Matheson managing partner Darren Maher, who each reflected that progress has been made and that work remains to be done.<\/p>\n

Coveney reflected on how the tone and substance of engagement have shifted, and underlined how the focus now needs to shift to areas of mutual interest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rachman, based on his reporting across Europe and beyond, set out how these relationships are now viewed internationally.<\/p>\n

There was a clear sense of momentum in the Ireland\u2013UK relationship, with the outcomes of the recent Cork Summit, the bilateral summit between the Irish and UK governments, seen as an important step in resetting engagement between the two governments. EU\u2013UK relations, by contrast, remain under active negotiation.<\/p>\n

The expected EU\u2013UK Summit in the autumn is likely to be a significant moment, particularly in advancing cooperation on energy and a potential sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement, an area of particular relevance for food and agri-food businesses operating across the island of Ireland.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

There was also a consistent view that closer alignment will be required on security and defence. For businesses, the direction of travel is becoming clearer despite complexity remaining.<\/p>\n

Questions around regulatory divergence, market access and cross-border investment continue to shape decision-making for companies operating across Ireland, the UK and the EU.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

While uncertainty has not fully receded, the operating environment is clearer than it has been in recent years.<\/p>\n

\"IrelandThe UK voted to leave the EU 10 years ago this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a clearer sense now of how the relationships between Ireland and the UK and the UK and the EU are evolving, but also a recognition that some of the more difficult issues, including regulatory divergence and the SPS framework, are still playing out,” said Darren Maher, managing partner at Matheson.<\/p>\n

“That has practical implications for businesses making decisions on investment, structure and market access.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo: (l-r) Darren Maher, managing partner at Materson; Kara Owen, British Ambassador to Ireland, ; Gideon Rachman, chief foreign affairs commentator of the Financial Times; and Simon Coveney, former T\u00e1naiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs. (Pic: Supplied)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The relationship between Ireland and the UK has entered a more stable phase a decade on from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":519733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-519732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/519733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}