THE torturous Brexit process has placed great strain on relations between the British and Irish governments but there are clear signs that Dublin and London want to develop constructive ways of working together after the UK leaves the European Union.
In addition to the structures established by the Good Friday Agreement, taoiseach Micheál Martin's Shared Island Unit is emerging as one of those new means of cooperation.
Mr Martin announced further details of the initiative in Dublin Castle last month, including a pledge to spend €500 million on cross-border infrastructure projects.
The taoiseach emphasised that he wanted to dialogue with unionists because, he said, they were "fundamental to our shared future".
This mirrored remarks made to this newspaper in August by British prime minister Boris Johnson who insisted that unionists had nothing to fear from the Shared Island Unit.
As political correspondent John Manley reported yesterday, Mr Johnson wrote to Mr Martin following his Dublin Castle speech to further support the unit.
Mr Johnson said the British government wants to deepen post-Brexit bilateral relations both east-west and north-south, and talked about the prospect of joint efforts to improve connectivity and to tackle climate change.
These developments have, unsurprisingly, been welcomed by SDLP leader Colum Eastwood, who said conversations about Ireland and Britain's constitutional future were "happening at kitchen tables and workplaces".
These conversations have clearly been animated by Brexit, which found few supporters more vocal and enthusiastic than the DUP.
By contrast, unionists have been conspicuously reluctant to even respond to the existence of the Shared Island Unit, let alone the taoiseach's overtures to engage in conversation.
Mr Martin has insisted the unit is "not going to increase momentum towards a border poll". That assurance alone will obviously not be enough to assuage unionist reservations.
Nor are they likely to be persuaded by Mr Johnson's appeal that they should engage with it "in a confident way".
However, it is clear that unionists will eventually have to confront new realities after Brexit - the biggest constitutional upheaval in a generation - and what they mean for all of the people on this island.
That response may include making an "evidence-based case" for the union, as former DUP leader Peter Robinson has argued.
But it should also involve contributing to initiatives that prosper all the people of Ireland.
Responding to Mr Martin's Shared Island Unit would be a positive place to begin.
