This time last year the Tánaiste generously hosted a very successful Northern Ireland trade event in Iveagh House. This is an alliance between Hospitality Ulster, Manufacturing Northern Ireland and Retail Northern Ireland. Last week, the same trade event was held in Westminster and the Irish embassy generously hosted them in the embassy that evening. On 25 June, the event is again taking place in Iveagh House, and I believe the Tánaiste is hosting. We need to do an awful lot more of this. There are other organisations such as CHAMP, Anglo-Irish relations and so forth. What are the Tánaiste's views on expanding these organisations and hosting these events? They do an awful lot for North-South and east-west co-operation.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issues. I recall the event in Iveagh House last year. It is extremely important because many businesses and people who employ people in Northern Ireland were very insightful and enlightening in respect of Brexit and how various responses by both the UK Government and the Irish Government could negatively impact their everyday working environments. It is extremely important that we continue to nurture and cultivate more engagements with organisations such as these, particularly in respect of Northern Ireland, because sometimes people have general notions and ideas. However, it is when we meet the people who are in the field and who are doing the work that we can learn a lot and then apply that learning to policy. Vice President Šefčovič of the European Commission, for example, had tremendous interaction with the Northern Ireland Business Brexit Working Group. That did help change attitudes within the Commission, which led to the Windsor Framework agreement.