Joe O'Reilly (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the three speakers and thank them for their contributions and provoking us to reflect on the central issues both today and at future meetings. I agree with Deputy Brendan Smith on the merits of receiving papers on specific issues. In so far as this could be achieved, it would be excellent.

I agree also with Deputy Brendan Smith on the importance of recognising the achievements made under the Good Friday Agreement. We addressed this issue with senior cycle students in the constituency. Those of us who were alive in the pre-Good Friday Agreement period will remember what it was like to get up in the morning and listen to the news on radio and can contrast it with what it is like today. Thanks be to God we have arrived at this point. That merits recognition. We should applaud all of the actors involved and ourselves for the role we played before or since. It is right to look critically at elements of the Agreement, but it would be a pity if we were to lose sight of the fact that it was an enormous achievement.

That is a major achievement which is the envy of the world. It is now looked upon as the international model. It is a very significant achievement and if it could be replicated in the Middle East and other areas of conflict, it would be a source of great joy. We should be very proud of that, as a people and as a country. The achievement merits recognition, particularly on the 15th anniversary of the Agreement and is something about which we should be celebratory. The positive effects of the cessation of violence are tangible, notwithstanding the issue of the flags and the risk from dissidents. The achievements are mammoth and merit both recognition and repetition. We should be so proud.

I totally concur with the points made by the previous speaker on education and unemployment, in particular. Unemployment is the scourge of the country, North and South of the Border, and is the great challenge for us now. Establishing the peace and bedding down the Good Friday Agreement was the great challenge of the past. The great challenge of the present in all parts of the island is unemployment, which will require very imaginative responses and great courage. It may also require restructuring in terms of examining issues such as the working day, retirement and other aspects of work. Radical solutions will be necessary, including stimulus packages. We must solve the unemployment problem, North and South. The unemployment black spots in the North are a major worry and have the potential to increase the risk to peace. It is wrong in itself that people are outside the loop in terms of their participation in society.

I ask the expert witnesses to outline the current obstacles to educational integration and the progress made on this issue. What specific steps do they believe are necessary to achieve greater integration? What should we be doing in this regard? I also ask them to address the issue of housing integration.

How does Dr. Jarman envisage the civic forum working and how would he see the civic dimension running parallel with normal democratic politics at local level? How would the two marry and where is the potential for conflict? In the South there are often issues with civic involvement in local communities and conflicts between civic society and local, democratically elected councillors and so forth. How does Dr. Jarman believe the two elements could work together and what needs to be done in this regard?

I am interested in the views of the experts on the new Irish, many of whom came here from Eastern Europe. Perhaps the numbers migrating to Northern Ireland were less significant than here in the Republic. I confess I am not up to speed on migration patterns in Northern Ireland but there was a significant inflow, south of the Border, of people from countries like Poland and so forth. To what extent have those who did migrate to Northern Ireland changed the situation there in terms of undermining the old sectarian model? Are new migrants changing the situation in terms of it not being a Catholic-Protestant question any more? How relevant are the new Irish in terms of creating a more normal society?