After five years in Ireland, the UK Ambassador to Ireland Paul Johnston, is to leave his post here.
Mr Johnston confirmed he is taking up a position with the Irish University Association.
His time as ambassador was a period during which the relationship between Ireland and Britain collapsed to what the Taoiseach described as "an all-time low."
Speaking on RTÉ's Six One News, Mr Johnston said the relationship is "certainly in a much better place" now, than it was when he arrived as ambassador in September 2020.
He said there was a "very important commitment" by the new Labour British government elected in July last year to restore what it saw as a "relationship which had been damaged" by Brexit and subsequent events.
Mr Johnston recalled how the UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, invited the then-Taoiseach, Simon Harris, to be his first official guest in the UK, 10 days after Labour's election.
Correspondingly, Mr Harris invited Mr Starmer to Ireland.
"Our relationship which had been characterised almost by crisis management over Brexit and Northern Ireland for the best part of ten years is now looking much more like a broad-based relationship, looking at prosperity, security, the environment, climate," he said.
Mr Johnston said it had been a "low-point" for him "personally and professionally" when the Taoiseach portrayed Anglo-Irish relations as being an at "all-time low."
He said: "I think there's still work to be done but it's in a vastly better place than it was five years ago."
Brexit a 'structural shock'
Mr Johnston described Brexit as a "structural shock" and he is "confident" that over time, things will get "steadily better", although "it will never get back to where it was before June 2016," when the UK voted in a referendum to leave the European Union.
He praised the Common Travel Area between Ireland and the United Kingdom as a "fantastic asset", and added that he is going to "benefit personally" when he settles in Ireland in a few weeks time after he steps down as ambassador.
Mr Johnston said the fact that anyone entering the UK can move into Ireland through the land border with Northern Ireland and vice versa "does pose some challenges."
He described it as having the benefits of the Common Travel Area but "some shared risks and vulnerabilities" which need to be worked on.
He added that defence co-operation between Ireland and the UK is also on an "upward path," that Britain is "fully respectful" of Ireland's military neutrality, "but in a world of greater shared security challenges, there's more we can do together there as well."
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