Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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37. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent meeting with Ms Arlene Foster. [45008/18]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I had the opportunity to meet the leader of the DUP Ms Arlene Foster on October 15 when we discussed many issues including the current political situation in Northern Ireland and Brexit.

I emphasised the Government’s full commitment to the Good Friday Agreement, and our continuing determination to secure the effective operation of all of its institutions. We discussed what could be done to get the institutions in Northern Ireland up and running again.

I re-iterated to Ms Foster that the Government wants to put a political process in place that can secure an agreement on the operation of the devolved institutions and that we will continue to engage with the British Government and the political parties in Northern Ireland to seek urgent progress with that in the period immediately ahead.

We agreed that we can continue to build on existing practical North South co-operation.

We also discussed Brexit including negotiations on the backstop to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.