Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin T.D., welcomes the Foreign Secretary David Miliband to Dublin

The Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin T.D.  welcomed the British Foreign Secretary to Dublin today and hosted a working lunch for the Foreign Secretary at Iveagh House.

Following the meeting the Minister said;

"I am delighted to meet again with David here in Dublin and host him and his team from London. It is always a pleasure to meet with colleagues with whom we have so much in common as we work together on the many global challenges which currently confront us.

Relations between our two countries have never been better and I think the co-operation; politically, economically, socially and culturally, owes much to the close contact between our two governments over the past 11 years of working together, building peace and bringing devolution to the North of Ireland.   It would be remiss of me not to pay tribute in this context to Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern, and the very close relationship they enjoyed.

However it is worth noting that as the situation in the North thankfully requires less day to day attention by both Governments, today's meeting has allowed us the opportunity to discuss other areas of mutual interest and concern, including the Lisbon Treaty, the Millennium Development Goals, climate change, Georgia and Zimbabwe.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my thanks to David for his strong support for Ireland within the EU following our referendum in June. I took the opportunity of our meeting to brief him on the findings of yesterday's report into the reasons that people voted as they did.

I look forward to further meetings with David over the coming months in Brussels and elsewhere and am very pleased that Anglo-Irish relations are now on a wider and more sustained footing than at any other time in our long shared history".

++ENDS

Press Office

11/09/08