Niall Blaney (Fianna Fail)

As he departs in the next number of weeks I wish the ambassador and his wife well on their next chapter.

In the past four years, there were times when relations were quite strained and discussions between Ireland and Britain were quite strained due to the legacy issues. We are now on a much more positive trajectory. It is great to see relations now on that platform. We are doing all we can to work out those issues. Long may that approach continue.

Moreover, as members of the committee on the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, the one thing we must recognise is that when the Good Friday Agreement was agreed, it was the one time on the island that everybody said "Yes". Sometimes we forget that. At times we are inclined to jump too far forward, without all the actors being involved. As a committee, we must learn from the past and do more to engage, in particular with the unionist community. We do not see many of them here. The ambassador might be able to add some persuasion in that regard. We must ensure that we have much greater unionist participation on this committee in order for the work that we do to have real teeth, and to have real findings and conclusions. Moreover, we want to work towards a constitutional conclusion that is good for all of the island and all the people on it. That is the only way it will work.

I thank the ambassador for his time and all his efforts. Every time he was asked, he made himself available and he made time. We really appreciate his efforts and wish him well in the future.