Statement by TUV deputy leader councillor Ron McDowell:
“Meaningful East/West connectivity and cooperation is welcome. However, the continuing reality of the Protocol which has riven the United Kingdom with a partitioning border down the Irish Sea cannot be ignored.
“The optics of today’s gathering does nothing to alter the constitutional detriment wrought by the Protocol, which, sadly, the DUP has now accepted in all its Union-dismantling parts.
“It is also worth noting that the new East/West Council has no statutory powers, something which is in stark contrast to the North/South bodies. That being so, while today will doubtless produce many photo opportunities it is unlikely to deliver much of substance.”