H.E. Mr. Paul Johnston:

I thank the Cathaoirleach and the Deputy. To cover points that I think are relevant to the agenda of the UK-EU relationship, we always saw the Northern Ireland protocol and the Windsor Framework as important both for the sake of underpinning all three strands of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement and because it is important to have a stable situation in relation to Northern Ireland for the sake of the union and the Good Friday Agreement but also because it was clearly an issue in the UK-EU relationship. That was part of the motivation for seeking to resolve it. It was clear that the protocol itself did not command cross-community support and I think we succeeded in persuading partners. The Irish Government was clearly very familiar with the situation and the fact that there were practical problems and political problems. We are convinced that the Windsor Framework is a means to address those.

On the back of that, we hope, as the Deputy was saying, that the Executive can be up and running as soon as possible. We have made clear that we will not be reopening the Windsor Framework because we think that is an agreed solution and that it will take forward agreed implementation. We remain in touch with all the parties to try to encourage them see the opportunity that now exists for Northern Ireland politically and economically to embrace all the benefits of the framework and hope that can be resolved as soon as possible.

The migration situation is a big challenge for Europe as a whole. I saw somewhere that there has been a 65% increase in illegal migration into Europe. It is one of the themes the Prime Minister has talked about including at EPC meetings. The scourge of people traffickers and the people who are exploiting illegal migration is something that needs a Europe-wide response. Hence our desire to reach a working arrangement with Frontex as part of working with the EU on tackling the challenge.

It is absolutely right that Ukraine has thrown up a whole new series of areas where we need to invigorate our co-operation both with the European Union and with individual European countries. The areas of energy security, resilience, decarbonisation and exploiting the potential of renewable energy is absolutely part of that as well.