Frank Feighan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Senator Leyden's comments. We attended a successful British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly plenary session in Kilkenny. I pay tribute to the co-chairs, Deputy Funchion of Sinn Féin and Mr. Andrew Rosindell, MP, of the Conservatives. I also pay tribute to the Oireachtas staff, who were incredible. The programme that they put on was brilliant.

I am referring to the assembly because we need such links now more than ever thanks to Brexit. The British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly was set up in 1990. A man in the assembly told me that, on its first day, there was a bombing in London and the divisions in the room between the Irish and UK parliamentarians were palpable. One would never have believed then the friendships, relationships and work that would develop in subsequent years.

There are many such assemblies, including the North-South Inter-Parliamentary Association, NSIPA, but we need more links. People do not realise that NSIPA members from the DUP, UUP, Alliance Party, SDLP and many others in Stormont met in this Chamber four years ago. It meets every six months. This work has gone unnoticed, but it forms part of the normalisation of politics north, south, east and west. I want to ensure that there is more of it. I call on the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to tell the House what he is proposing. In light of Brexit, these links are more important than ever.