Mr. Jack O'Connor:

We believe that the absence of implementation of this core commitment in the Good Friday Agreement is further destabilising society on this island, for example, political parties which voted against the recommendations made by the bill of rights forum, including recommendations which guaranteed cultural identity, dismissed core rights which could quite possibly have prevented the current demonstrations. The evidence of history tells us that when a new generation is denied fundamental social and economic rights it will seek status elsewhere. Our people in the Six Counties are picking up what they believe to be evidence of growing ranks in the paramilitaries and we believe that is no coincidence.

We know and acknowledge that this committee has diligently examined the situation over the past two years and we have arrived at a critical point when what it does and says can make a difference for the better. On behalf of all of those in the Congress of Trade Unions I request that the committee brings forward as a matter of urgency its recommendations on the need for full implementation of the bill of rights for Northern Ireland. We further request that it impress the urgency of the situation on the Irish Government as a co-signatory of the peace agreement and that it call on the Government to engage in urgent dialogue in this regard with its co-signatory, the British Government.

We in the trade union movement on the island have consistently argued for the past 15 years that continuing dialogue between politicians and the people can result in agreement on a bill of rights. This should be a far less contentious issue than the issue of policing and justice which has been dealt with. What is not acceptable is for division and a lack of political consensus in Northern Ireland to be used as an excuse for a failure to implement this fundamental part of the Good Friday Agreement. It was the will of the people that we have a bill of rights. It was their will in 1998 and it is still their will in 2013. The difference, as committee members have heard, is that fundamental rights such as the right to life for a growing section of working-class people in our society are at risk. As a consequence, so is the peace process which people strove so hard to achieve.

On behalf of congress, I thank the committee for the time afforded to us. We will try to deal with questions or issues committee members may wish to raise.