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

I think it is fair to say there is more commitment to climate action from this administration than others.

On Deputy Haughey's question, the UK Government is working closely with Ireland. We certainly worked closely together over the past couple of months when it came to the Windsor Framework and getting that agreed but I do not think the UK and Irish Governments have operated as closely as they did in the past. Since Brexit, the relationship has not been as close as it was. Looking back at those documentaries from 25 years ago, it was very evident that the two governments worked very closely together. Northern Ireland perhaps works best when the two governments work hand-in-hand, have a common strategy and try to pursue common objectives. Brexit upended that. I hope we are now coming to the end of that chapter and can start a new chapter where the two governments work hand-in-hand again in the interests of the people in Northern Ireland and honouring the Good Friday Agreement. I will be in Belfast tomorrow attending a number of events alongside the British Prime Minister. It is intended that we will have a bilateral meeting but we have not set a time for that as of now.

Regarding immigration and the issue of the undocumented Irish in the US, I raised this matter in the Oval Office in Washington last week. President Biden and his administration would like to bring about comprehensive immigration reform and would like to have schemes similar to the undocumented schemes we have had here in Ireland for people who have become undocumented. However, the realpolitik of American politics, as we will understand, is that there is not a majority in Congress to do that. That is the difficulty at the moment but we continue to keep the issue on the agenda.

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