Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for being late. It is ironic that I was speaking in the Dáil on statements on Palestine and that one of my last points concerned the need to take the Good Friday Agreement as an example of what can be achieved. We have met many delegations from both Israel and Palestine that have come over wanting to hear how the Good Friday Agreement came about. Of course, the recent events have put everything on a much longer finger.

I read the witnesses' presentation, which I found very challenging and very candid. It spells out implications that perhaps we have not been thinking about in the way we should. I thought that was very good, and I thank the witnesses for that.

I get the impression that there is much talking the talk about protecting the Good Friday Agreement, particularly on the British side, but there does not appear to be much detail on what exactly that means. We know there is very definitely a threat to the Good Friday Agreement, but then we are also as a committee considering what is yet to be implemented, particularly in respect of the legacy issues, which seem to be getting further and further away. We are conscious of this because some of us were at a very dignified ceremony on Talbot Street this morning. One of the speakers said a little progress has been made since last year, but I am in no doubt that the same things will be said this time next year and they will be no further in getting to the truth of what happened. It seems to be a wearing-down process on the part of the British Government until everyone involved in it is dead or has lost the energy. They have not lost the energy in 44 years, so I think it will take another while, but that seems to be the process. We think of the victims of the Dublin-Monaghan bombings. Babies in prams came along today because their grandparents are affected. That is how long they have been waiting. We know of the other issues, such as the event in the Widow Scallan's pub and the hooded men. Are the witnesses in any way hopeful that these aspects of the Good Friday Agreement will eventually be implemented? Yesterday, we had an exhibition upstairs of all the cross-Border work that is ongoing, particularly among young people, which was great to see. Again, we are now at a point at which we feel this is all being undermined.

I was interested in the human rights questions. I will not go back to them because it is my fault I had to go to the Chamber to speak. The EU seems to be speaking with one voice on Ireland and Ireland's interests, and Michel Barnier, certainly any time he has been here and any time one sees his speeches, seems to be very committed to this. However, could it be a case of who will blink first and that Ireland will be the party that could lose out? In the larger scale of things, we are but one country in the EU 27. Is there a danger, in the witnesses' opinion, that we could lose out eventually? At present we are not losing out, but could we eventually? I regret the vote, and I was a Eurosceptic. I did not want Ireland to enter in the first place. However, now that we are in - and while we respect the democratic vote - I think the decision in Britain is a disaster, particularly as it relates to the Good Friday Agreement and what has been achieved.