Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Dolores Kelly, MLA, John Dallat, MLA, and Caroline McNeill to this meeting and to Dublin. I thank them for presenting this initiative to reconvene the civic forum. I congratulate them for successfully raising the matter in Stormont. The civic forum is a commitment in the Good Friday Agreement. It crossed political boundaries and ensured that the pressure from political parties was avoided.

Members of this committee visited Belfast before Christmas in 2012. We went to the Newtownards Road for the opening of the Skainos centre and we had meetings with various groups. We were quite convinced that everything was okay. Martin McGuinness, MLA, and Peter Robinson, MLA, addressed that huge attendance in what is loyalist east Belfast and in my view this was a cause for celebration. However, less than seven days later, all hell broke loose on the same streets which shows that it is a very difficult situation. I cannot see any reason the civic forum could not be reconvened.

What powers has the civic forum? Are the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister supportive of reconvening it?