Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Leaving politics aside, both the Irish and British Governments and Parliaments need to look to the Good Friday Agreement as the template for our future relationship. Let us consider the institutions of the agreement be it the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly, particularly the British-Irish Intergovernmental Council, the North-South Ministerial Council and the British-Irish Council. I have written about this issue a few times and there is a very strong case to be made for the following.

The British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference should mirror the European Council's schedule of meetings so that if, for example, there is a DG AGRI meeting on the third week of May every year, the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference could bring the British and Irish agriculture ministers together at that time. Equally, the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly will have a much more important role going forward and must be taken far more seriously by everyone in the context of legislation and co-operation. It will be very difficult in these remote times but there is no time like the present in terms of beginning the necessary preparatory work. Of course, as Deputy Calleary said, the basis for a good relationship going forward is making sure that the withdrawal agreement is respected and the protocol is completely implemented as per the agreement.