Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----but also understanding the pressures they are under.

The resolution of the protocol issue is about that same exercise. To be fair to Commissioner Šefovi, I asked him to go to the North and he did, as did the Minister, Deputy Coveney. Commissioner Šefovi went to the North, listened to the people on the ground, came away with a different perspective, to be fair to him, and persuaded colleagues in Europe, some of whom believe he has gone too far with the package he has produced. The UK Government is engaging. There is now a sense that there is a bit of momentum that could go either way.

We need to double down. My regret about the Good Friday Agreement is that it has not fully realised its potential. There has been too much stop-start, with the Assembly being absent for so long during different periods. That does not build confidence among the electorate and the public that the institutions will work. There has been an alienation from the institutions because of their stop-start nature.

As for the shared island initiative, notwithstanding people's constitutional preference, to which it is without prejudice, there is a hell of a lot we can get on with to build that shared understanding. I was delighted to see recently, when I was speaking online, an all-island biodiversity network. We will fund that through the shared island unit. It involves people getting together on the environment and climate change. They are putting politics outside the door. They are of the unionist tradition, the republican tradition; it does not matter. The north-west partnership development group is fascinating and has a great record on economics and enterprise. It involves all shades of political opinion between the two councils in the North and the South, namely, Derry City and Strabane District Council and Donegal County Council. It has a very strong, robust economic agenda.

We need to build and build in a very pragmatic way to get things done and improve the quality of life of people overall. Yes, people are of course entitled to pursue constitutional objectives and ideals. That is accepted. However, we need to give ourselves space to engage and to give people the confidence to be comfortable in one another's company.