EU demands 'rigorous implementation' of N.Ireland Protocol -O'Neill

European Union official Maros Sefcovic on Wednesday told British minister Michael Gove there must be "rigorous implementation" of the Northern Ireland Protocol, a senior politician present at the meeting said.

"He was very forthright in the fact that he knows we need to implement the protocol in its entirety," Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill, whose Sinn Fein party supports a United Ireland, told Irish broadcaster RTE.

"As a matter of fact he said that the EU expects rigorous implementation of the protocol," O'Neill told RTE after the meeting.