Business leaders here are asking the Irish Government to help secure an early announcement of an extension to Brexit grace periods.
Dublin says it wants to ensure European officials are aware of the impact of decisions on Northern Ireland, while Foreign Minister Simon Coveney has spoken in favour of "modest extensions".
Talks between Irish officials and the European Commission were due to take place yesterday.
But for some industry representatives it is not enough, and they argue all parties need to move faster.
"The difficulty is that if they do not move sooner rather than later it would seem that they do not want any discussions on this," said John Martin of the Road Haulage Association.
In a statement last night to the Belfast Telegraph, the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs said its officials are "keeping in very close contact at all levels with the Commission to ensure that appropriate consideration of impacts on the protocol takes place, including in respect of future proposed legislation".
In response to questions on whether Dublin will explicitly advocate or ask for extensions, a spokesperson said: "There are different types of legislation at EU level and different processes in each case.
Comments: Simon Coveney says he backs ‘modest’ extensions to Brexit grace periods
"We are working to ensure that whatever the process, there is a good awareness of possible impacts on Northern Ireland in all cases."
According to RTE, Michael Gove, the UK minister responsible for Brexit, sent a letter to the European Commission demanding changes to the NI Protocol and an extension to the two grace periods - one currently set to end in March, the other in June.
The letter, particularly its tone, angered EU officials, according to the RTE report.
The discussions between Irish officials and the European Commission follows the dispute over vaccines after Article 16 of the protocol was briefly invoked to ensure supplies did not cross the border from the Republic to Northern Ireland.
Article 16 allows the UK and the EU to act unilaterally if the application of the protocol is leading to "economic, societal or environmental difficulties".
These difficulties must be both serious and "liable to persist".
The Irish Government wants to make sure future proposed EU legislation is "scanned for any potential impact on Northern Ireland... so that potential complications caused by Northern Ireland effectively being in two internal markets at the same time are spotted early and avoided", according to RTE.
Mr Coveney has indicated that Dublin is open to "modest extensions", but businesses here want the Irish Government to explicitly advocate that and ask for it to happen.
"I am open to advocating for modest extensions or grace periods when appropriate to try to reassure people we are listening to them and, secondly, to ensure that business can operate as best they can under the protocol," Mr Coveney said.
"That is not the same thing as scrapping the protocol."
Hauliers have reported serious problems, particularly in relation to groupage and the movement of food and live animals, and Mr Martin said there needed to be extensions.
"We are advocating for an extension to the grace period to look at all the requirements between GB and NI, for parties to review or eliminate," he said.
He added that the extensions should be for all movements, as the easements now in place largely benefit bigger retailers and wholesalers, rather than smaller businesses.
The call for extensions was echoed by the hospitality industry, which noted that the movement of goods between Britain and Northern Ireland is not close to full capacity due to the closure of most businesses due to the pandemic.
"We definitely need the grace period extended," Hospitality Ulster chief executive Colin Neill said.
"It is about making the protocol work, but there are challenges and the supply issues need to be addressed."
He added: "The UK has to negotiate itself, but we do hope that the Irish use their good offices to help solve the problems."
