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

I thank the delegates for a very enlightening and uplifting morning and early afternoon discussion. The committee appreciates their interventions. I acknowledge the more peripheral meetings which have taken place; two, in particular. The British Academy marked the 15th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement a couple of weeks ago with Mr. Paul Bew. At the meeting I heard similar sentiments to those expressed today. We have come a long way, but there is much more work to complete. I acknowledge and thank the British Academy for organising the round table discussion. I also thank the US embassy for organising a round table yesterday to mark the 15th anniversary. The European Commission and 23 other countries were represented, which demonstrates the extent of international goodwill towards a successful outcome in Northern Ireland. It is important that the committee act as a conduit to feed back to Northern Ireland the international goodwill, efforts and offers of support. The Community Foundation for Northern Ireland is holding its conference next week on the subject of diversity. It is important that we feed back to groups such as the foundation the positive international efforts and acknowledgment of the ongoing work and commitment to the peace process.

I thank the three delegates who presented this morning. They have certainly added value to our discussions and the committee appreciates their insight and honesty on the challenges that lie ahead. We are closer to the beginning than to the middle, never mind the end, of the peace process. As one man pointed out to me, it may be a 100 year project. If it is, Co-operation Ireland will be around for a while yet. However, Mr. Sheridan should not panic. Within the process, we must be open to ideas. The very good ideas and suggestions made and presented to the committee today will certainly be discussed and run with. I thank members for their contributions which certainly added a great deal of weight to this important discussion.