As Chairman of the Good Friday Agreement implementation committee here in the Oireachtas, I warmly welcome the reset of relations between Britain and Ireland and, in particular, the Taoiseach's immediate engagement with the British Prime Minister on how fruitful, I hope, their meeting next week will be. I also welcome Hilary Benn's appointment as the Northern Ireland secretary. He has been a frequent visitor to this House and we, Members of the Oireachtas, have met him in the United Kingdom Parliament as well. His appointment augurs well. Coming from a Border constituency, I know that the huge impact the peace process has had on our areas has been absolutely fantastic. We have grown our economies and grown closer together. Brexit, unfortunately, has been a spanner in the works in that respect, and I wish the Taoiseach's discussions the best outcome possible. The improvement in North-South relationships is hugely important, particular in Border counties.

I thank Deputy O'Dowd for his kind words and good wishes in terms of my engagement with the British Prime Minister next week. I see this as a moment of reset for Anglo-Irish relations and I take my responsibility as co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement on behalf of the Irish Government very seriously, as I know Prime Minister Starmer takes his responsibility as co-guarantor of that agreement for his Government. I too welcome the appointment of Hilary Benn, a politician who is serious and of substance and knows Ireland, the island of Ireland and the importance of the relationship between our two islands. I thank the Deputy for all his work as Chair of the Good Friday Agreement committee. I think we are seeing in his constituency - I was in Omeath recently with him - the benefit we can have when we work together on issues that make sense, such as the new Narrow Water Bridge. This is a major moment of reset. I have said it before and I mean it: the next generation will not forgive us if we do not seize this opportunity to reset relations.