Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)

Tá a fhios agam go mbeidh seans againn an dúnmharú seo a phlé agus díospóireacht a bheith againn níos moille. Tá a lán oibre le déanamh againn anois. One of the things we have to make very clear is that the Irish Government is in the driving seat of the peace process. It is the Government's project because it is the popular project, the citizen's project, and the Government must take the leadership role. So many little things can be done which would also help the people in this part of the island, even in terms of economic deprivation. It does not make sense that in a small island, with a small landmass and a small population, we should have two competing economies.

I commend, for example, the projects to which the Government has committed, such as the N2-A5 and the A8 infrastructural projects. This will help to generate employment and, as is possible under the Good Friday Agreement, to ensure local labour clauses and apprenticeships to help people in the communities through which, North and South, those big projects are being developed. The Taoiseach might update us on other flagship projects such as the Ulster Canal - at least, it was described as a flagship project at the time it was launched. The Minister for Health, Social Services and Public Safety in the North recently pulled out of the Altnagelvin radiological unit for the north west. I welcome the commitment of the Minister for Health and Children, who, in an answer to Deputy Ó Caoláin, stated the Government remained committed to that project, which is another that helps everybody in the north west.

I understand many issues are pressing down on us all at present. However, given these outstanding elements of the St. Andrew's Agreement and the fact that the mechanisms are not in place, the Government should indicate, and be pleased to do so, the areas of co-operation and harmonisation it wants to see developed. On all of these cross-Border economic, social, health, environmental, energy and agricultural issues, there is no resistance from Unionism. I travelled to Belfast from this Chamber last week and met working class loyalists in the middle of a working class loyalist neighbourhood to talk about social and economic issues. They understand this Government and this island with regard to those issues. While they may not have moved away from their commitment to the Union, they have moved on these issues. This is why we need to move beyond condemnation to the real politics of peace making.

To conclude, there is a democratic and peaceful way to bring about Irish unity. It is there as part of an international agreement, the British Government has signed up to it, all of the parties in the Assembly in the North have signed up to it, and we need to make it a reality. In a very clear way, with the Government in the driving seat, we need to spell out all of that.

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