PM meeting with Taoiseach - readout

A Downing Street spokesperson said: 

The Prime Minister and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar met at Parliament Buildings, Stormont, today.  

The Prime Minister began by congratulating the Ireland rugby team for their emphatic win against France in the Six Nations on Friday. 

The Prime Minister turned to the day's events and thanked the Taoiseach for the Irish Government’s support for the UK Government efforts to see restoration of devolution in Northern Ireland. This had been a challenging time, but patience had proved key to a deal. Now that the institutions were up and running again, he wanted to see all three strands functioning equally well. The sense of relief and optimism from people in Northern Ireland had been very striking and made it all worthwhile. 

The leaders reiterated their shared view that a stable, effective and successful Northern Ireland benefitted the UK-Irish relationship immensely. They looked forward to remaining in close contact.