Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Haughey asked about the state of Anglo-Irish relations and the review of the strategic relationship between Ireland and the United Kingdom, post Brexit.

Progress is under way in that regard. During our most recent meeting, the British Prime Minister and I agreed to increase the momentum of the engagement between our officials in respect of the bilateral relationship between Britain and Ireland post-pandemic. We are hoping to bring that to a conclusion in the coming weeks. It is an important issue because, as the Deputy said, since Britain left the European Union, the opportunities and forums that were there to nurture the relationship between the UK and Ireland in an EU context are no longer available. Brexit has clearly created challenges in respect of the relationship.

In the implementation of the withdrawal agreement and trade and co-operation agreement, we have sought that the UK would work with the European Union through the mechanisms that are provided for in the withdrawal agreement to resolve any issues emerging on the Northern side in respect of the protocol. That work has been under way but it has been of a stop-start nature. It is important that political will would attach to it. I have met all the principal leaders of the Commission and they are committed to resolving the issues. There is goodwill there. The UK Government needs to engage as well, and I have made this point to the British Prime Minister.

Narrow Water bridge is a significant development and reflects the importance of the shared island fund, which, for the first time in 30 years, gives us ring-fenced capacity to put flesh on the bones of important projects North and South. I met Nichola Mallon MLA, the Minister of Infrastructure of the Northern Ireland Executive earlier this week to discuss the announcement because she has campaigned for a long time on the Narrow Water bridge project. We have allocated an initial €3 million to bring the project to tender stage and we intend to allocate further funding to enable it to happen. Louth County Council will be the lead agency in delivering this and on the Northern side greater active transport initiatives will be put in place in parallel with the project. For both communities North and South, this is a clear manifestation of the capacities we have secured through the shared island fund to make things happen on a North-South basis.

We also need progress on the legacy issues by all parties involved and we must do it on a collective basis. Deputy Richmond made a number of significant points about making the protocol work and that is what we are endeavouring to do in respect of North-South and east-west engagement. The British Irish Council provides a forum for off the record engagements and for the capacity for participants to sound each other out in informal settings. That is valuable and it is important, as Deputy Richmond said, that we would make sure that these meetings will be scheduled in the diary, although Covid has had an impact on that in the recent past. I know it has been a historic issue that the British Prime Minister does not attend but it would be great if he could attend. It was a constructive meeting with all the heads of administration and we shared a lot of good practice around Covid. I also had an opportunity to speak to all the parties from the North on the protocol and the Executive and I found it useful. Again this illustrates that meeting in person is far more effective than meeting online in terms of those informal engagements.

I will talk with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, about his discussions with the Saudi Government. With Ireland as a member of the UN Security Council, the Minister has been extremely busy in endeavouring to deal with a range of international issues, not least the Yemen war, which, as the Deputy said, has had an appalling impact on so many innocent people. I met the UN Secretary General last week and he has been warm in his appreciation of Ireland's role on the UN Security Council on many of these issues, not least the Middle East. We will continue to do that on an international level and the Minister will represent the country in that respect.

On healthcare, the big issue the UK is learning is that since it has restricted European citizens in particular from going into the UK, it has had an impact on its workforce and its capacity to recruit people. We need be conscious of that lesson.

Deputy Paul Murphy said that I rejected advice on the challenges raised by the Delta variant. I never did so. Ireland is the only country in the European Union that has introduced mandatory hotel quarantine. It is clear that more than 50% of cases in Northern Ireland are of the Delta variant and that more than 95% of those in the Britain involve the Delta variant. All of Europe, such as Poland and Portugal, have high rates of the Delta variant. Portugal is introducing restrictions again on hospitality and it has had to reverse because of the Delta variant. The CMO is of the view that we will face a European-wide Delta variant wave. We put India on the list for mandatory hotel quarantine but our levels of transport are low. We have a seamless border on the island and it is not possible to seal it. That is a fact and we have learned that.

On Deputy Carthy's point, the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, has made it clear that there will not be an issue for Irish citizens on the island, North or South, in accessing the Covid digital certificate. I never lose an opportunity to raise the Dublin and Monaghan bombings and I did so again at the most recent meeting I had with the British Prime Minister when we discussed legacy issues. Successive Irish Governments have consistently sought all of the information in British hands on that terrible atrocity that was committed in 1974.

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