The Government is making use of Ireland’s presidency of the Council of the European Union to help Andy Burnham achieve his ambition of resetting the relationship between the United Kingdom and the EU.

The timing of Ireland’s presidency coincided fortuitously with the arrival of Burnham in Downing Street and his admission that Brexit was a mistake.

An important symbolic initiative is that Irish ministers invited their British counterparts to attend the informal meetings of the EU’s Council of Ministers held in this country during the six-month presidency. The offer has been made with the agreement of the other EU states. This means that for the first time since Brexit, British ministers have collectively met their 27 EU counterparts to discuss common challenges and exchange perspectives.

In recent weeks, the UK education secretary and deputy leader of the Labour Party attended the meeting of the EU education ministers in Dublin. Her arrival was warmly welcomed by her fellow ministers from EU countries. Here, European Affairs Minister Thomas Byrne publicly welcomed the relationship between the EU and the UK growing stronger and said that in the operation of the EU presidency, Ireland would support further strengthening of those ties.

Former Ireland rugby star........

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