Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 12 together.

The UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and I both attended the recent G20 Summit in South Africa. We had a number of conversations in the margins of meetings there, including on the situation in Ukraine, on which an informal meeting of the coalition of the willing took place. Previously, I met with Prime Minister Starmer at Chequers on 12 September. We discussed a broad range of matters, including the positive state of bilateral relations between Ireland and the UK. We also discussed the legacy framework - this was one of the reasons I went to Chequers - which was published subsequently on 19 September. The Prime Minister and I took note of progress on the UK-Ireland 2030 programme of strategic co-operation since the summit on 6 March on implementation across each of the programme’s four pillars of security, justice and global issues; climate, energy and innovation; growth, trade and investment; and culture, education and people-to-people links. We looked ahead to the second UK-Ireland summit, which Ireland will host in the spring of 2026. This work complements that undertaken under the British-Irish Council, which will meet in Wales later this week, and the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, which took place in Dublin on 17 November.

The Prime Minister and I also discussed a range of international issues, including the catastrophic situation in Gaza. We agreed in particular on the then urgent need for a ceasefire, the release of hostages and the delivery of humanitarian aid at scale, as well as finding a pathway to a two-state solution for a lasting peace. We committed to continue to work together with the coalition of the willing to strengthen support for Ukraine and increase pressure on Russia to stop its war of aggression on the people of Ukraine.

Deputies may wish to be aware that the First Minister of Scotland, John Swinney, was in Ireland last week to mark the agreement of a new bilateral co-operation framework between Ireland and Scotland. The new framework includes six broad areas for future co-operation, including in the context of a strengthened Ireland-UK relationship. I also met with First Minister Swinney in Government Buildings during his visit.

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