Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their heartfelt words. I am sure they are echoed not just in this room, but in many other places. I think the key message they are giving me is the same as what I believe myself, namely this must be our project, not their project. The witnesses are at the heart of the project and they have to have ownership of it. Without being disrespectful to anybody here, what these people are doing has to be taken on board. This affects their whole lives and their communities. The fact that most of the people who have commented are from the witnesses' community shows that this is the pressure point and that it must be addressed. Everybody here has spoken about goodwill. The witnesses spoke well about it themselves. Let us get together and sort this out before anything else goes wrong, because we all want this.