Lord Alderdice:

One would have a difficult situation were the two governments to come into conflict over the question. There is a clear conflict within the Westminster system. I am a Liberal Democrat and the party of which I am part is very strongly opposed to the current British Government approach on this question. Ms Begley will find that is also true of the Labour Party and, indeed, of some Conservatives. However, getting into a fight between the British and Irish Governments over this will not be very helpful. A thoughtful engagement and trying to persuade people that this is very important internationally, as well as domestically, is a priority. Regardless of the longer-term political future, this is a priority and engaging people in the conversation to make that happen is the thing to do.

I cannot say what will happen in Westminster. It is a very febrile and unpredictable place at present, as Ms Begley probably knows, but there are many people there who are deeply unhappy about the approach that is being taken and the fact that things that were promised have not been delivered and things that were not promised have come into play. It is a difficult one. There is no easy answer.

Should the Government engage with the British Government in a constructive way? Of course it should. The two governments working together is critical to all of this, but it is about working together to achieve it and that is a challenge. As somebody said about two horses that were ploughing - one horse was willing to work and the other was willing to let it. That is the problem. Getting two people who are in a harness together, want to go the same direction and have the same energy is one thing, but one horse being willing and the other horse willing to let it work is another. That is kind of what we have at present. Many of us will try to do our best at Westminster to try to change attitudes and we have to work together on it. There is no magic or easy answer to that one.