Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for this question. I have quite a detailed answer that I could read into the record of the House but I will just respond directly to the question.

These are challenging times for Anglo-Irish relations. The good relationships that have been built up, particularly over the past 20 years, need to be used now to find sensible ways forward for the sake of Northern Ireland in finding a way to create a context by which devolved government can function again and be re-established. To do this, we are using the elements of the Good Friday Agreement that are relevant not only for east-west relations but also for interaction on North-South co-operation. As the Deputy will be aware, we have had a number of meetings of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, which have been good. Through this forum we will have another meeting in a couple of months which will confirm new relationship structures between Britain and Ireland for a post-Brexit environment. We will also plan for at least an annual meeting of both governments led by the Taoiseach and the Prime Minister but involving many other Ministers as well. The kind of structural relationship that France and Germany or Spain and Portugal have, for example, is one we want to see in the future to build on other structures that exist through the Good Friday Agreement. We must recognise, however, that Ministers will unfortunately not meet one another regularly in Brussels or Luxembourg and work together on EU projects in the future in the way that they have done over the past 45 years or so.

The personal relationships are good. My relationships with key partners such as Karen Bradley, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, or David Lidington, who is effectively the equivalent of a deputy Prime Minister in the UK, are good and we speak regularly. I will meet Ms Bradley again this week to discuss Northern Ireland. It is important to say that while decisions being made this evening in Westminster, of course, impact on Ireland and Irish people on this island, North and South, the personal relationships between the British and Irish Governments remain strong, and they need to be so to find a way through a difficult Brexit process.

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