Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I took my seat in the Dáil as the sole Sinn Féin Deputy in 1997. The peace process had broken down at that time. It had been undermined by the refusal of the British Conservative Government of the day to enter inclusive negotiations, respecting all electoral mandates and without preconditions. Through hard work, persistence and consistent engagement by political leaders, not least by the leadership of Sinn Féin, the peace process was revived and inclusive negotiations began. The outcome was the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. I took part in those talks and was present when the Agreement was concluded.

It is difficult to believe that was 15 years ago. In that time, huge progress has been made. We now have a shared peace, apart from isolated incidents, that has been with us for a decade and a half. The political process arising out of the peace process took years to put in place before inclusive institutions were finally established in the North. What for many was previously unthinkable was manifest before their eyes when Unionists and republicans worked together in the Executive and the Assembly, with inextricable links to all-island structures. They are still working together, which is in itself a major achievement.

The big issues, such as the release of political prisoners, demilitarisation, the putting of weapons beyond use and policing, proved intractable for very long periods, but were significantly progressed, allowing the political process to develop. Much progress has been made within the Six Counties and on a cross-Border, all-Ireland basis. Co-operation in areas such as health, transport, agriculture and tourism has been greatly enhanced. The North-South Inter-Parliamentary Association has been established, and I am proud to have played my part in bringing that about. I look forward to it playing an increasingly important role.

A lot has been achieved, but an awful lot more remains to be done. That is fine so long as we can see that progress is being made and there is the political will on the part of the British Government to move forward. The big problem is that the required political will on the part of the British Government is absent. For this reason, Sinn Féin is raising these issues in this debate.

Key commitments are not being met, and the level of engagement required is not forthcoming from the British Government. The Irish Government, sadly, is not acting with the intensity of application required from it either. The £18 billion peace dividend undertaken by the British Government in the St. Andrews Agreement has not been delivered. The block grant for the Six Counties has been cut by £4 billion. The British Government is trying to impose harsh social welfare cuts. The British Secretary of State continues to imprison Ms Marian Price and Mr. Martin Corey. The promised inquiry into the murder of Mr. Pat Finucane has not been established.

I want to focus on two particular outstanding issues. This week marks the 39th anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings in which 33 people were killed. The British Government continues to refuse to release all the files and other information in its possession relating to this, the biggest single loss of life in a single day during the whole course of the long conflict, and to release the files on the other cross-Border bombings in Dublin, Belturbet, Castleblayney and Dundalk. I believe that this Taoiseach and his two predecessors have been far too accepting of the British position on this.

In February 2012, members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement met the British Secretary of State for the North, Mr. Owen Paterson, and pressed him on the continuing non-disclosure of British Government documents relating to the cross-Border bombings of the 1970s. Justice for the Forgotten described his response as very disappointing.

He told the committee that the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, William Hague "had assured his counterpart here that we have made available the synopsis that is relevant to this case". This apparently refers to a ten page letter to Judge Barron from former Secretary of State, John Reid, in February 2002. Judge Barron expressed his frustration with the lack of information contained in this letter. He repeatedly requested the British Government for access to the documents themselves but, on every occasion, he was refused. That refusal continues to this day and it is totally unacceptable. The Government must be far more proactive on this matter.

The second outstanding issue I wish to raise is the Ulster Canal. Far-seeing individuals, not least in the local communities, saw the potential long ago of re-opening the Ulster Canal from Lough Erne in County Fermanagh, through Clones in County Monaghan and on to Lough Neagh. This was a flagship project identified in the Good Friday Agreement and confirmed in subsequent negotiations and agreements. Those far-seeing people saw the potential economic return for entire communities throughout this beautiful part of rural Ireland with the opening up of the Erne-Shannon waterway, linking Lough Erne with the River Shannon. They rightly concluded that similar benefits could be gained from re-opening the Ulster Canal, with the 13 km Erne to Clones section marked out as the first phase of the overall project.

In July 2007, nearly six years ago, the North-South Ministerial Council agreed to proceed with the Ulster Canal project. That was widely welcomed at the time, especially in the Border counties, where the peace dividend had been very slow to materialise. It was widely seen as vindication of the campaign of the local communities and the calls from elected representatives of all parties North and South, including my Sinn Féin colleagues and me, for this very positive project to be advanced. In the intervening period we have seen the economic collapse in this State and a parallel contraction in the North. Despite that, the Ulster Canal project was kept live. Nonetheless, it took until October 2011 for Waterways Ireland to lodge planning applications. Permission was granted last month for the northern section by Minister for the Environment, Alex Attwood, and earlier this month by Clones Town Council and Monaghan County Council for the section in this jurisdiction. The Minister, Deputy Deenihan, has advised that the earliest the contract could be awarded would be late 2014 with a completion date in spring 2017. I urge the Government to do all in its power to expedite this process. I also urge the Minister, Deputy Deenihan, and other colleagues to maximise the possible EU funding for the project from the PEACE IV programme. The Ulster Canal project is hugely important, not only symbolically, but will prove to be powerful in terms of economic development across this island. It is time to get the work on the ground under way.

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