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

I thank Mr. Hughes. We are delighted to have him here, especially today. As he said, all the parties in the South support the Good Friday Agreement and we think it is the way forward for all of us. I refer to respecting, understanding and supporting each other regarding rights and the right to our own political views. How people see the island's future is their own business. We must respect that and the collective will of the people as it is expressed from time to time. I am delighted that Mr. Hughes has agreed to speak here today.

We will move on now to questions. For the benefit of our guests, what we normally do is to have 15 minutes for each political grouping. A representative of that political grouping asks a question and witnesses respond as they wish. At the end of 14 minutes, I will call time and then we move on to the next grouping. That is the way we have done things up to now. I hope it will be a free exchange of views and I will try to keep it as relaxed and informal as possible, other than with the time slots. Representatives from Sinn Féin will ask the first questions, followed by speakers from Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, SDLP, the Alliance Party, Independents, Aontú, Sinn Féin, Labour Party and Green Party, in that order. The first 15 minutes are for Sinn Féin. Will Ms Gildernew state who will ask that party's questions?