Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Recently the Tánaiste announced new work at North-South Ministerial Council level regarding a better focus on economic development and job creation. I acknowledge the new strategy. Representatives from the Centre for Cross Border Studies and a representative from the North-South Ministerial Council were present today to share information with Members of the House on a cross-party basis. Such activity is very welcome.

Deputies Martin Ferris and Seán Crowe are active members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and we focus on victims' groups, ex-prisoners and former combatants. Prior to Christmas representatives from Families of the Disappeared appeared before the committee. We have a sharp focus on legacy issues and coming up with a solution and roadmap to address the legacy of the conflict. We must also be conscious of the silent and forgotten victims. On Monday I met a gentleman who had suffered serious harassment and intimidation in the early 1970s. He was told never to leave County Donegal and never to set foot again in Northern Ireland. Such intimidation needs to be addressed and there should be an avenue for people to tell their stories. Those who were not directly involved in the Troubles may state this happened in the 1970s and that people need to move on and put the past behind them, but it is important to address and acknowledge that many still have a story to tell. Some seek justice, others seek the truth, while others seek closure. They want various solutions to their experiences in the past 30 to 40 years. We must find a solution for those who were affected indirectly, through intimidation or otherwise, during the Troubles.

As the Taoiseach correctly pointed out, we must also look to the future. In doing so we must examine the economic construct and what is happening at legislative level. Legislation passed at Westminster can directly affect the lives of Irish citizens; an example is the new levy to be introduced on 1 April on heavy goods vehicles. This is a new annual levy of £1,000 on trucks over 12 tonnes. This legislation was introduced on the basis that British hauliers must pay tolls in the Republic of Ireland, but British hauliers must also pay the new levy. The legislation will affect those operating in Border counties such as County Donegal in which there are no tolls. There are no tolls because the county has terrible roads because of economic and political neglect as a result of partition, but operators there will suffer from legislation enacted at Westminster. We cannot inspect every piece of legislation enacted in the United Kingdom, but we have a responsibility as a co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement to see how legislation enacted at Westminster has a direct effect on business and Irish citizens. This was not done in the case of this legislation. Secondary legislation will pass through Stormont specifically to enforce this legislation and set out the PSNI's role in this regard. There was no due diligence or proper consideration and analysis of the legislation to assess how it would affect Irish citizens. That is wrong. It sends a very poor and negative signal to citizens who listen to us speaking week in week out about cross-Border collaboration and co-operation, how we can work better together, have more streamlined services on a North-South basis and make Border areas more accessible. There are obvious sovereign and currency constraints, but issues such as this send a very negative signal.

I acknowledge the role of the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Leo Varadkar, in trying to secure derogations for certain roads. A 7 km section between Cavan and Monaghan has a derogation and I call for the A5 to receive a similar derogation. The Minister will continue to pursue this issue. If the A5 receives a derogation, should the road from Donegal to Belfast also receive one? It sends all the wrong signals on our approach. Our democratic mandate, as legislators, is based on the fact more than 70% of those in Northern Ireland voted for the Good Friday Agreement, with 90% of the people in the Republic of Ireland, and it was not only on a North-South basis but also on an east-west basis. I have written formally to the Secretary of State for Transport in the United Kingdom calling on him to re-examine the issue. I appreciate that the legislation has been enacted, but secondary legislation is going through Stormont. I have spoken to the Minister for the Environment in Northern Ireland, Mr. Mark Durkan, MLA, and if there is a way to amend the legislation to provide derogations for certain roads in Northern Ireland, it would send a very positive signal to citizens of this country that the British were looking to work with us in a meaningful way and make common-sense laws which would not in any way impact on businesses such as hauliers in this example.

Recently in London Ms Judith Gillespie, the Deputy Chief Constable in Northern Ireland, gave a very frank and open account of what life was like in Northern Ireland and the challenges faced by her members in the PSNI. She made a specific call to politicians involved in the peace process in Northern Ireland, elsewhere in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland to take risks. She stated unless we, as politicians, took risks, we would not move forward. Shortly after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, Mr. Seamus Mallon stated the legislators had built the institutional construct of the Agreement.

I believe he was being modest when he said that was the easy part and now we have the constitutional challenges. We have to listen to Seamus Mallon, Judith Gillespie and the various people who are asking politicians to take risks and not play political football with this issue. When the then leader of the Opposition, now Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, the then Deputy Eamon Gilmore and I sat on the opposite side of the House there was careful, cross-party co-operation on the Northern issue. That has changed. I will not tell a political party how to do its business but I do not believe that change is for the better. It was reflected here earlier in Deputy Micheál Martin's contribution when he said that everything was terrible, everything was wrong and that Northern Ireland was an unhappier place. Northern Ireland is not an unhappier place. People have moved forward. Sixteen years after the Good Friday Agreement, people are no longer being killed, which was the case for the previous 30 years. We have to look at the positives. Challenges remain but we must work together, and this House should show leadership and work together on this issue and not the way it was done today.

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