Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

So those of us who are privileged to be in public life and to be in elected office have to treasure and always hold uppermost in our minds that we have a mandate to implement that agreement. We know there are difficulties and unfortunately there are aspects of the Good Friday Agreement that are not working. We can rehash why that is happening but that is not the purpose of our exercise today. One thing we are missing in the narrative at present and which concerns me is that we do not include in our commentary the huge positives for all of this island from the workings of the Good Friday Agreement to date. I think of the all-Ireland economy, which is evolving and growing without any electioneering, political sloganeering or flags being waved. Mr. O'Connor mentioned that business groups have talked down the context of all-Ireland development but the people who create the jobs and enterprises have gone on and created the jobs North and South and on an all-Ireland basis.

It is great that we have such a movement of people, North-South and South-North, working and accessing services. The fact that the United Kingdom has introduced the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 is of concern to us because we do not want a restriction on the movement of people on this island. In my constituency of the southern Ulster counties I see the movement of people North-South on a daily basis and I see so many people who do not have Irish or British citizenship travelling across the Border and working in key jobs, be it healthcare, hospitality or whatever. That is a mark of the success of the Good Friday Agreement, in that we have the economic development that has benefited every parish throughout our island. At times we need to reflect on the huge benefits we derive on a daily basis from the Good Friday Agreement.

I hear what Mr. O'Connor says on the role of George Mitchell. It was inspirational that he was chosen as chair. He had huge access to the Administration in America and he was one of the senior political figures there. I am sure that was useful when calls had to be made to President Clinton, Senator Ted Kennedy and others. I sincerely hope that Mr. O'Connor and colleagues like him put on record their recollections of how the Good Friday Agreement came about, its modus operandiand the many benefits that all of us enjoy from that great work undertaken by Governments and political parties at that time.