Mr. Richard Neal:

The principle of consent does not mean veto.

I have been excited to learn more this week about the Irish Government's shared island initiative, which we discussed this morning with President Higgins. It reflects an understanding that all communities and traditions on the island have a chance to work together to build a consensus for a shared future. That is the way forward. We cannot allow the fallout from Brexit to divert Ireland from the path of peace and progress ,and we must not allow the clock to be turned back. The United States will continue to be the reliable friend it always has been to Ireland and to have a strong stake in the rich legacy of the Good Friday Agreement that Ireland, along with the US, helped to secure. We intend not to let it go awry. We have work to do in protecting and reinforcing the peace in Northern Ireland that has existed for the last 25 years. As always, we need to work together - the US, Ireland, Britain, the EU and the people of Northern Ireland and their political representatives - to find a space where the planter and the Gael might live in harmony, where instead of two communities there is one community with two traditions.

The legacy issue should not be allowed to get in the way of what families need to know about what really happened.