Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry that I cannot provide any greater clarity or report progress from when we discussed this before. I assure the Deputy that it is not off the agenda. It is very much being discussed. There has been a lot of back and forth between my Department, the Irish Government and the UK Government. Also there had been previous conversations with the Assembly in Northern Ireland. I have met my counterpart, the Minister of Justice in Northern Ireland, Naomi Long, since she was reappointed to the Department of Justice and this will form part of the conversations that we are having moving forward. There are different views on this, as the Deputy knows, not just here and across the water but in Northern Ireland as well. It is important that as we progress this, we bring everybody with us if this is the direction we are going. It is making sure that to the Deputy's point, we have that constant engagement, that it does not go cold and that it does not get left on the side. That is not what is happening here. I hope that the Tánaiste and I will be in a position to give him a greater update following Monday's meeting.

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