In short, Ireland has to start looking at matters pragmatically as the power sharing governance of NI continues to be blocked and the only likely remedy is a review or change of heart by the EU, which the Republic seems now prepared to back.
With regard to France, their problem is with Germany as there is a massive power struggle between those two countries concerning defence, energy and other matters. Previously, the Franco-German alliance remained strong against the UK in the Brexit negotiations. However, the deterioration of relations between the two have pushed France towards the UK and have contributed to French initiatives such as the European Political Community and the Prague summit to which the UK was invited, primarily for the purpose of annoying the Germans, who insist the UK cannot be part of summit meetings.
According to the Research Director at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) Germany and France are struggling to agree on anything as they fight for the balance of power in the EU. He said the two linked up well during the Brexit negotiations, but now they regret it because "they kind of imposed the terms of settlement on the UK" and now France is trying to undo part of that and that is a serious point of tension between Macron and Scholz, even to the extent of the two leaders postponing their Fontainebleau meeting as they fail to agree on matters of energy and defence. So the French tried to team up with the Italians, but the Germans were then happy when the Draghi government disappeared because they were worried that France and Italy would start creating finance and Eurozone policies over their heads.
Bottom line is that the strict rules that France was so keen to impose on the UK are not now so popular as France seeks to win the favour of the UK in its power struggle with Germany. Basically, that is why they will relax the rules.