Niall Blaney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Neal for addressing the committee today. His words are heartening, as is the relationship he has built up over the years with our Cathaloirleach, Senator Daly.

I have listened closely to Mr. Neal's remarks on the Good Friday Agreement. As a Donegal man who lives north of the North, in a county that is completely cut off by the Border in good times and bad, I am acutely aware of many issues which were addressed in the work of Mr. Neal and his colleagues, through President Clinton's administration, and the good work done by Senator Mitchell during the talks that led up to the Good Friday Agreement.

As a member of the all-party Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, that is the angle I am coming from in my remarks. Although a significant amount of good work has been done with regard to the Good Friday Agreement, there is still a lot of key work needed to ensure it is brought to completion. In saying that, I am referring to the communities on both sides of the Border, to which the Congressman referred earlier, that do not pull together and do not recognise each other's identities or respect what each other stands for. The Government, under the Taoiseach, Deputy Martin, has set up an all-island unit which has taken on a significant amount of work and is trying to start a dialogue to see where the differences are and try to gain traction and respect.

There has been much talk about a united Ireland and all present would love to see it come about, but it is not as simple as having a border poll. One could hold a border poll tomorrow morning and it may be determined by a margin of 1%, but it would have the potential to undo the Good Friday Agreement if the groundwork is not done beforehand.

The Congressman has done great work for Ireland and we really appreciate everything he has done, but there is still a key piece of work on which we will need his help. It will be a little bit similar to the work done on the Good Friday Agreement. We need to reach a point at which we have an honest broker in the room again to break down the barriers that exist and create respect. We need to respect identities and differences of opinion and religion. We need to learn to share this island as one. Until we do that, we will not be able to move forward. There is a significant amount of groundwork to be done. We will be knocking on the Congressman's door again and calling for his help to identify a person to help us along the way in doing that work. I look forward to engaging with him in the years to come.