Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will review his decision to decline permission for the UK's Ambassador to the Irish Republic to speak privately with the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee during the covid-19 pandemic.

It is long standing practice in Her Majesty's Government that Select Committees should receive briefings from the relevant Minister and from the relevant Ambassador when travelling. As has been made clear to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, Her Majesty's Ambassador to Ireland and the Embassy team will be at the Committee's disposal for their visits to Ireland or other engagement with the Irish authorities.