Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I take the Deputy's point on a number of fronts. The DUP represents a very important constituency. It represents people of particular views in Northern Ireland. That needs to be respected as we must respect the UUP and the views it represents. Notwithstanding that we might disagree with some of the policies the parties might present, we need to respect that they have electoral mandates.

If there is to be broad community-based faith in the elections of the institutions, the results of the elections must be accepted on all sides. That part of it must be fulfilled. The Deputy has raised broader points that are valid regarding how it is operating. The First Minister's office and the deputy First Minister's office of course are two equal offices. Issues have surfaced over how business gets done and the role of other parties, and those issues are worthy of discussion. There can be no equivocation. There must be an election and whatever way the votes fall we have existing agreements and everybody who has signed up to those agreements should adhere to those, accept the result and take up their roles in the institutions.

The Deputy is correct that no institutions should be taken down for political reasons. As I said earlier, I believe they have been down for half of the lifetime of the Good Friday Agreement. There is an enormous difference between the esteem in which the Scottish assembly is held among Scottish people and the position in Northern Ireland based on surveys carried out. Based on my experience of having been in the North during one election recently, they do not like abstentionism; they want their politicians to do things for them in the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement. They want people to work them.