Niall O'Connor Reporting from Druids Glen, Wicklow

ON THE EDGE of the EU Foreign Affairs meeting in Wicklow, British and Irish relations are seeing a renaissance but a consensus on the merits of a border poll is lacking.

Last night, British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband and his Irish counterpart Helen McEntee enjoyed a meal together and had a meeting to discuss diplomatic connections and defence among other topics.

Once secret and covert military arrangements are now well and truly overt, with a British navy ship providing security for the under-resourced Irish military in the seas off Wicklow.

Recent comments by British Prime Minister Andy Burnham in Belfast, that a referendum on a united Ireland is “off the table”, caused a ripple in the otherwise positive noises.

Since then Burnham sought to soothe the language and said he was “very aware of every word in the Good Friday Agreement”.

This morning, as the EU foreign ministers gathered, Miliband was also in attenbdance as Britain looks to repair post-Brexit EU ties.

Miliband gave a brief outline of Britain’s support for Ukraine and spoke about the German response to the drone attack on the airport at Leipzig.

But a shouted question from the gathered media saw a less than effusive response by the Foreign Secretary.

“I am not going to comment on that here today. I am here to talk about other matters. We are strong supporters of the Good Friday Agreement, we stand by the Good Friday Agreement,” he said, before he very hastily walked indoors and away from follow-up questions.

The Journal asked McEntee for her views on the situation, and she was clear: “we will have a border poll in the future”.

EU Foreign Affairs chief Kaja Kallas, British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband and Irish Foreign Minister Helen McEntee. European Union European Union

The minister said that she and Miliband had dinner and their meeting went well.

McEntee was eager to speak about the repairing of the relationship with Britain and the closeness of the two countries.

“We discussed a number of things in regard to the relationship between Ireland and the UK. We are in a really good place and I believe that relationship has grown and particularly in the last two years with the UK summits that relationship is growing stronger,” she said.

She also said that she believed that “this current prime minister and Ed included will continue to grow that relationship”.

“In relation to the border poll we have been very clear, and our own party [Fine Gael] has been very clear on this: we need to be prepared for this,” she said.

McEntee said that it is for the UK’s Northern Ireland Secretary, currently Chris Bryant, to call the poll, known as a “prerogative”, but that ultimately it is for the people of Northern Ireland to decide.

“We are looking at a blueprint in our own party where there is a time comes that we are ready and we are ready to engage on the different questions and the different possible outcomes on a border poll or referendum.

“That work continues and we continue to bring people together in the Shared Ireland fund. This is really important and it shows how we can bring communities together and that is really where we need to be. I think we will have a border poll in the future,” she said.