Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar is meeting Stormont’s political parties in Belfast 18 months on from the collapse of the executive.

It comes after he accused Westminster of a lack of co-operation.

There has been no devolved government since February 2022 when the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) withdrew.

Mr Varadkar called for the UK and Irish governments to “work hand-in-glove and apply both pressure and support – in a co-ordinated way”.

He said a closer partnership was crucial to restoring power sharing.

But Mr Varadkar told the Financial Times there had been a reluctance in Downing Street to “go down that route”.

Relations between London and Dublin have improved since their post-Brexit slump.

Nevertheless, these comments show this is a work in progress.

The DUP has blocked the formation of an executive and assembly in protest at the post-Brexit trading rules for Northern Ireland.

After being the first party delegation to meet Mr Varadkar on Wednesday, Sinn Féin vice-president Michelle O’Neill said she believed “public patience is wearing thin with the DUP”.

“I have heard more urgency from the taoiseach today than I have heard from the British government in terms of the need to restore the executive,” she added.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said he had a “very useful” conversation with the taoiseach on subjects of mutual interest and concern, including cross-border trade.

“Our focus at the moment is on resolving the major problems that were created by the Northern Ireland Protocol,” he added.

“We continue to engage with the government, that engagement has intensified in recent weeks and I hope that within the next few weeks we will have a definitive response from the government and we will be able to put a proposition forward.

“The government knows that more needs to be done and we need to see that progress.”

Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie said his conversation with Mr Varadkar was “nothing more than a neighbourly catch-up”.

He said it was “all well and good the taoiseach saying that the UK government needs to talk to them more, I would argue that the UK government needs to talk to us more”.

“I want to be involved, I want to add value, I want to fix the problems and the impasse that we are on now,” he said.

Responding to Mr Varadkar’s remarks, the Northern Ireland Office said the two governments had “long agreed to co-operation in line with the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, including through the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference”.

“The UK government firmly believes that the three-stranded approach set out in the agreement offers the best route to securing the timely restoration of the NI institutions, and our commitment to it remains unchanged.”

Mr Varadkar is also holding meetings with other party leaders on Wednesday, as well as engagements with business leaders.

He will also meet representatives of Linfield Football Club and the Gaelic Athletic Association.