Simon Coveney provoked outrage when he criticised a joint letter by Brexit Minister Lord Frost and Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis who warned that the current Protocol risked

creating “real damage” to the province’s fragile peace. In an interview with RTE's This Week, Mr Coveney hit back saying that the UK has shown “no generosity” at all. He even claimed

the UK’s actions were “a very strange way to make friends and build partnerships” and warned it was “going to cause huge problems". His comments sparked fury among some Express.co.uk

readers. One wrote: “Simon Coveney said the comments were a 'very strange way to make friends and build a partnership'... “He should have heeded his own advice. Coveney et al, have

Ireland in the EU’s Single Market. This has outraged the province’s Unionist community who claim that it threatens their British identity. Disputes over the Protocol have led to several

nights of rioting - and have raised the prospect of paramilitary groups on both sides of the sectarian divide reigniting the conflict. Both the EU and UK have repeatedly said they want to

avoid reigniting problems in the region. But the pair have locked horns over how it can effectively be resolved. This prompted Mr Coveney’s latest outburst. He said: "This is a week

when the EU has moved, has shown generosity, has responded to requests from the British Government and from leaders in Northern Ireland. "And at the same time, the British Government

shows no generosity at all, in terms of even acknowledging that there were advances this week that could build trust and relationships. He added: “Many in the EU are interpreting the UK’s

response as essentially saying: ‘Look, concessions don’t matter. “What is required now is to dismantle elements of the protocol piece by piece.’ “That is going to cause huge problems.”