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

This line of questioning is not only inappropriate, it is also in bad taste. I have worked closely with Adrian O'Neill, our current ambassador to London, since he took up his post in September 2017. This has been an especially busy period in British-Irish relations, which has seen the UK leave the EU and enter into a new post-Brexit relationship with the latter and Ireland. In this period, the ambassador, Mr. O'Neill supported the 17 in-person visits I have made to Great Britain. During these visits, the ambassador generally accompanies me for meetings with British Government representatives as well as with other political, Irish community, commercial or cultural contacts. He often meets me separately, or together with other embassy staff in the course of programmes. On a regular basis the ambassador also participates in calls and virtual meetings with high-level British contacts. Such forms of engagement were particularly important in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In the second half of 2020, the Ambassador facilitated and participated in a number of calls with British Ministers and a virtual visit by the metropolitan mayors of Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City regions. I also hold weekly video calls with the Mr. O'Neill and other senior officials from across my Department to discuss the outworkings of Brexit. I also meet occasionally with the ambassador at the Department of Foreign Affairs headquarters and at major British-Irish events in Ireland, including those that take place during official high-level inward visits from Britain.

The role of our diplomatic network in Great Britain is especially important at this time as we work to advance Irish interests in a period of change and challenge, and seek to continue to strengthen British-Irish relations in the post-Brexit era. I will use this opportunity to thank Mr. O'Neill for an extraordinary job through a very turbulent and difficult period in terms of British-Irish relations as opposed to using it, as the Deputy has tried to do at the start of his contribution, to cast aspersions.

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