Mr. Tim O'Connor:

The east-west relationship is a game of two halves, is it not? I refer to the period up to 2016 and the period afterwards, which are not exactly halves. Things are very difficult now. I worked as a general diplomat as well and I worked very closely with my British colleagues. I was the Africa director during Ireland's EU Presidency in 1996 so for six months, I was the leader of the European Union's Africa group in Brussels. My British colleagues were a key support for me. We worked very closely together. The sundering of the European relationship has been very difficult, as we all know. That east-west relationship is in a difficult space at the moment. I hope we can get back to where we were and where we want to be. I greatly value that relationship. I worked with my British colleagues through all of this with the absolute sense that we had each other's back. In negotiating the Good Friday Agreement, working with British colleagues was fundamental to everything and, as I have said, we worked closely together in Europe as well. I am hopeful that we will find a way to get back to that close relationship. It is fundamental to progress.