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

That is a fair question. It is envisaged that the meeting would be much more than a summit between the Taoiseach and the Prime Minister. They happen every now and again anyway. Instead, we would have agreement on an annual meeting between the governments, to include not only the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach but probably six or seven other Ministers on both sides in order that there would be a build-up and a proper preparation period for that meeting each year. We would look at areas on which Britain and Ireland need to co-operate, not just Northern Ireland, which is, of course, important, but also economic development, tourism, development aid policy, security issues and many other areas on which, as two neighbouring islands, we need to work together. There is an appetite on both sides to formalise a proposal that has been discussed and agreed in principle. It will need sign-off at prime ministerial level in the UK and by the Taoiseach here. We are talking about a meeting, probably during the summer months, that would last a day or so and involve a series of different sectoral discussions led by Ministers but also with the gravitas of having both the Taoiseach and the Prime Minister in attendance.

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