Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----they may do so today, and I imagine they would be broadly in favour of the agreement. I refer to NGOs as well. What is really missing, though, and Deputy Howlin is absolutely right about this, is a Northern Ireland Executive, a First Minister and a deputy First Minister. When a person is in the role of First Minister or deputy First Minister, he or she is much more than a party leader. That person is required to take into account all the people in Northern Ireland. It is a real shame that the Executive and the Assembly have not been there at this very significant time. We had very close contact with the UK Government about what we can do to get the institutions up and running again. The institutions that involve the Governments are up and running.

The British-Irish Council is working well. I was at a meeting of the council only last week on the Isle of Man. There have been two meetings of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference. The institutions that are not working are those that relate to Northern Ireland, unfortunately.

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