Sinn Féin MLA Caoimhe Archibald has welcomed a letter sent to the Stormont Assembly by President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

“We welcome this letter sent to the Assembly following our many motions passed last year in favour of honouring all international agreements in relation to Brexit and the North of Ireland.

“In this letter, Ursula von der Leyen said she is ‘exploring all flexibilities available… within the framework of the Protocol, in order to facilitate the implementation of the Protocol.

“This shows that the EU is willing to work on practical solutions to the remaining problems which have resulted from Brexit and our exit from the EU.

“While we condemn the events of last week relating to Article 16, we are assured that the EU have learned lessons and are committed to making the Protocol work.

“We call on the British government to show the same resolve by committing to proper solutions to the practical issues.”