Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. I commend him and the two Governments on all the work they have done. I am particularly happy about his comments on the next meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council in the north west in May. Many of the issues the committee has discussed relate to infrastructure, particularly the road network, although we have visited the Narrow Water bridge project and so on. Will the Minister outline the prospects for investment in this regard? In all the discussions I have had with local authorities on both sides of the Border and interest groups, there has been a great wish to meet the Minister and the Taoiseach, if possible, to have these matters discussed at the council meeting. I am sure it is a priority for the Minister, but this has been raised at many meetings of this committee and we will no doubt have other meetings about, and outreach visits to, many of these projects.

I refer to the legislation that was discussed earlier. I have a particular interest in the Irish language, and another official languages Bill will be introduced during the next session of the Dáil. Language, however, is a legacy issue in the North in the context of the bill of rights mentioned by previous speakers. While it is not easy to answer this, I would like the Minister to outline a timeframe for addressing this, because it is important given that we are introducing more legislation here in this regard.

We have met relatives of those affected by the Dublin-Monaghan bombings, the Pat Finucane case and the Omagh bombing, and we hear the same message - that they want to meet Ministers and the Taoiseach, because they feel these issues should be pursued further.