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

The Deputy will know by now that it is not my practice to organise meetings in the Chamber. Anyone who wants to meet me can seek a meeting in the normal way and it will be considered in the normal way.

Talks were held last Friday in Belfast. All the major parties attended. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland was there, as was the Tánaiste. I was not present but the Tánaiste briefed me and advised me that little or no progress was made, unfortunately, in the talks. However, he said the two Governments would continue to engage about a process into the future that might allow progress to be made.

My own view is and has been for many months that the current environment, notwithstanding the reasons for the collapsed Northern Ireland Executive two years ago, is a difficult one to facilitate restoration of the institutions. Brexit has created extraordinary uncertainty. In the absence of a withdrawal agreement being ratified, it will be difficult to get the institutions back up-and-running. Frankly, the fact that the Conservative Party and the British Government depend on the votes of the DUP in Westminster to continue in existence creates a problem as well. This is because it does not allow the UK Government to play the role it would have played in the past by putting pressure on unionism and all parties to get back around the table and come to an agreement. These are two new dynamics that did not exist in the past when institutions broke down. They are two very unwelcome dynamics. Perhaps they will not be dynamics forever and perhaps they are not insurmountable either way.

I wish to clarify again that the A5 road is not delayed as a consequence of re-profiling by Government. It is delayed because of legal challenges in Northern Ireland and the fact that there is no Minister to sign off on the project. Once it gets back on track, the Government will be more than happy to provide the €25 million that we had intended to provide this year, because the road was supposed to start this year. If the road starts this year, I would be happy to be present at the sod-turning. I may even bring the cheque with me, but we are not going to pay €25 million to the Northern Ireland authorities for a road that has not even started when it was supposed to start this year.

It is a project to which I am highly committed and one in which I believe. It will connect Derry to Dublin, will help us to develop Derry and Letterkenny as a new urban growth centre and is very much part of Project Ireland 2040. It will help with the development of the north west. It will be beneficial not only for the western half of Northern Ireland but for people in Letterkenny, Donegal and Monaghan. It is a project I am keen to see started.

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