micheal martin is currently in power, sharing power with leo varadkar.of when a border poll might happen is completely unrealistic and deeply divisive, and the truth is if you look at polls today, sinn fein is no longer the most popular party in the republic of ireland, and the government is deemed to be doing well on the most important pressing issue of all, which is handling covid—i9. your moment appears to have passed. well, see, the wonderful thing about a democracy and about political life is that, you know, we set out our stall, political leaders rival, political actors make all sorts of assertions and will have their debates, and then the people decide. and that's at the core of the journey to irish reunification. the people will, ultimately, call this one. it is entirely legitimate and it is entirely in accordance with and in keeping with the good friday agreement to say out loud we want a united ireland, we want an end to the partition of our island, which has been so injurious to our social, political and economic fortunes, and we want to talk

the taoiseach micheal martin has told the bbc he believes travel off the island of ireland is problematictain and beyond. restrictions on people travelling to northern ireland from many other countries were relaxed today. but stormont‘s guidance is that people in northern ireland still should only travel abroad if it's essential. 0ur political correspondent stephen walker reports. nearly a fortnight into his newjob and micheal martin has been speaking to mark carruthers for this weekend's sunday politics on bbc northern ireland. the issue of quarantine was raised and the taoiseach made it clear he has some worries. the disease knows no border, we have issues with the uk in terms of the leicester being closed down. it is notjust the uk, it is international travel altogether. our advice is against international travel because we believe it is problematic and the public health people are saying that to us. all this comes as travel rules have changed in northern ireland, with people arriving from more than 50 countries no longer having to self—isolate for 1h days. northern ireland's chief med

these talks with the trade deal as well, and we had this morning from ireland new taoiseach, micheal martinnion and the united kingdom in relation to brexit. i do that i had a very fruitful discussion with the prime minister borisjohnson after i took up office. i think we both agreed that it's in everybody's interest, particularly in terms of businesses and giving them certainty and securing employment into the future, that we get a good, comprehensive trade deal between the uk and european union that can be tariff—free, quota—free and that would facilitate smooth future relationships. so those talks go on, and the uk government adamant there has to be a deal or decision, they will not be a deal or decision, they will not be a deal by october. we saw president trump wearing a face mask in public. what is the latest on face masks in terms of the british government policy on that? it is interesting, because we saw borisjohnson in public ina because we saw borisjohnson in public in a face mask for the first time on friday as well. we know that the uk government is reviewing whether facemasks s

this morning we heard from ireland's new taoiseach micheal martin.lks between the european union and the united kingdom in relation to brexit. i do believe that i had a very fruitful discussion with the prime minister borisjohnson after i took up office. i think we both agreed that it's in everybody's interest, particularly in terms of businesses and giving them certainty and securing employment into the future, that we get a good, comprehensive trade deal between the uk and european union that can be tariff—free, quota—free and that would facilitate smooth future relationships. both sides still trying to figure out what that will look like, ben, but the crunch on that is coming soon. i think we will be talking about brexit a lot more. the uk government has made it clear that it wants this solved one way or another, deal or no deal, by october. nick eardley there, our political correspondent. the headlines on bbc news... senior uk cabinet minister michael gove says face coverings should not be made mandatory in shops in england — but they should be w