Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have absolutely no doubt Europe is ready and, indeed, has been ready and has shown remarkable flexibility in dealing with the issues of concern around the protocol. Just to reiterate, the protocol is widely supported and it is working, as the Taoiseach has attested to and has witnessed from his conversations with various sectors north of the Border. I, too, hope we get to a position where we have a functioning Executive, a First Minister for all and a functioning assembly. That is where this needs to land. However, it is essential everybody understands that the alternative to that is not a return to direct rule from London. We need to be very upfront and frank with our unionist colleagues in that regard. Will the Taoiseach elaborate, in the minute he has available, on the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, that partnership relationship, and how he envisages that functioning in the event there is a failure on the part of political unionism to help us re-establish the Executive and to have a functioning assembly?

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