Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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115. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the discussions that he has had with the British Foreign Secretary since his recent appointment to his present position; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57825/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I have engaged with the British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, James Cleverly, MP, on several occasions since he took up his role in September.

On 15 September I had a first phone call with FS Cleverly, during which we discussed our respective positions on the Protocol, EU-UK relations and our foreign policy goals. I welcomed his expressed wish to reach an agreed solution on the implementation of the Protocol and I stressed the need for substantive, early engagement in the EU-UK discussions. We discussed Russia’s ongoing aggression and both reaffirmed the importance we attach to maintaining support for Ukraine. We considered also the legacy of HM Queen Elizabeth II, in particular the role she played in strengthening British-Irish relations and advancing reconciliation on the island of Ireland.  

I hosted an extended in-person meeting with the Foreign Secretary at the Embassy of Ireland, London, on 6 October, ahead of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference.  On this occasion, we discussed British-Irish bilateral relations, developments in Northern Ireland, EU-UK relations, Russian aggression in Ukraine and our work at the UN Security Council. We discussed, in particular, the importance of progress on EU-UK discussions on the NI Protocol. We also spoke about the importance of an early formation of an Executive in Northern Ireland.

I will continue to prioritise engagement with Foreign Secretary Cleverly and other interlocutors in the British Cabinet.