The relationship between Ireland and Britain has of late become what the taoiseach described as “strained” due to the Brexit negotiations over the future of the border. Any de-escalation of these tensions is unlikely to be aided by the arrival into Dublin next month of Nigel Farage and like-minded Brexiteers for an anti-EU conference.

Neale Richmond, a Fine Gael senator and staunch supporter of the European Union, has written to the former Ukip leader asking him to explain what right he has to interfere in Irish domestic affairs. Mr Richmond has also called on pro-EU groups to ask the organisers who is funding the event in the RDS on February 3. The conference, “Irexit: Freedom to Prosper”, is being run by Mr Farage’s Europe of