As French President Emmanuel Macron and three of his ministers landed in Dublin on Thursday, a French military aircraft was taking off in Afghanistan, carrying most of the Irish team of Army Rangers and diplomats sent there earlier in the week along with some of the evacuees they had safely gathered at Kabul airport. In public remarks on Brexit a few hours later, Macron summarised France’s position on ensuring the UK respects the Northern Ireland Protocol with an emphatic “we will never let you down”. Over at Iveagh House, Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney and his French counterpart Jean-Yves…

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