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

I thank the Deputies again for their contributions. There is a real window of opportunity now to re-establish the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Executive and the North-South Ministerial Council between now and the deadline of 13 January. There have, however, been windows of opportunity in the past and unfortunately it was not possible to come to an agreement, so it is far from granted at this stage. The alternatives are not palatable. The Irish Government certainly could not support a return to direct rule, nor do I think that new elections for the Northern Ireland Assembly would provide a solution.

Deputy Micheál Martin asked that all five major parties be included meaningfully in the talks and I absolutely agree with that sentiment. Not only the two major parties, but all of the five major parties should be included. The strong performance of the SDLP and Alliance Party is noteworthy. I congratulate all 18 newly elected MPs in the House of Commons and I look forward to meeting and working with them throughout the course of 2020.

I am sure that any agreement that the parties come to, assisted by the two Governments, will want to deal with the burning issues that concern the people of Northern Ireland, whether it is the deepening health crisis, homelessness or the economy. Deputy Brendan Smith's points on legacy issues are also well made. Again, I am sure that the parties will want to do that and the Governments have a particular role to play when it comes to helping to bring a solution or resolution to some of those legacy issues.

As far as the Government is concerned, it will be our role to support the parties in Northern Ireland to come to an agreement, a programme for government, and also to work closely with the British Government to achieve our shared objective, that is, to restore power sharing in Northern Ireland, to restore structured North-South co-operation, as envisaged by the Good Friday Agreement, and also to strengthen, rebuild and renew the bilateral relationship between Britain and Ireland as the United Kingdom exits the European Union.

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