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

As the Cathaoirleach and other speakers have said, Mr. Ahern is very welcome. It is great to listen to him, as one of the principal architects of the Good Friday Agreement, and to listen to the great preparatory work that was done leading up to the negotiations. He was very generous in his compliments to other people who participated and who played a very active and positive role in the negotiations. Sadly, three of the main players are gone to their eternal reward - John Hume, Seamus Mallon and David Trimble. On a day like this, I am very glad that Mr. Ahern paid particular tribute to their work.

Having been in the parliamentary party with Mr. Ahern during that period, we were broadly aware of what was going on but obviously not in any detail. I mentioned previously at the committee that Mr. Ahern prepared our own party for changes because, as my colleague Senator McGreehan said, we were very attached to Articles 2 and 3 of Bunreacht na hÉireann. He did the preparatory work. He met a large number of Fianna Fáil Deputies and Senators in Ballyconnell in the early hours one morning prior to the conclusion of the negotiations. He outlined for us what had to be done and what we would achieve by being willing to embrace change from the point of view of the constitutional provisions at that time. As the Cathaoirleach said, it was painstaking work.

Having been privileged to attend an event in Belfast on the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement in which President Clinton, Tony Blair, Mr. Ahern, George Mitchell and the other political party leaders in Northern Ireland participated, there was a message of respect for each other's tradition. One message that I got that night as well is that there was a generosity, in particular between the British and Irish Governments, and an understanding of the other side's difficulties. I recall that mention was made of the evening of the removal of Mr. Ahern's mother, when Mr. Blair rang him subsequently and said that he could not honour some commitment he had given Mr. Ahern to bring the broader unionist family with him, and Mr. Ahern had gone and got the broader nationalist community to buy in to some part of the negotiations.

It was explained that night by Tony Blair and Mr. Ahern that they were both understanding of the difficulties of the other. The message I got that night was that in negotiation one has to be not only respectful but also generous to the other point of view, without losing one's core principles in any way.

Mention was made of the British-Irish relationships. Sadly, they have been at a low ebb in recent times, particularly due to the unilateral actions Mr. Ahern referred to, including with regard to the Stormont House Agreement, the protocol legislation and the appalling legacy legislation. Tinpot regimes in South America would not come up with such desperate legislative measures or proposals. It is shocking that any parliamentary democracy would embrace such proposals. Every party, every representative civic organisation group and the groups that have worked with victims in Northern Ireland, such as the WAVE Trauma Centre and other advocacy groups, are strongly opposed to those measures. That shows how out of touch the British Government was in bringing them forward.

We are reaching the 50th anniversary of some of the desperate atrocities that were inflicted on innocent people, both North and South. When speaking to some of the families who have never seen justice achieved in relation to the murder of a brother, sister, daughter or son, I often think that the grief intensifies as we go on and people realise their family members are gone to their graves and they have not got to the truth about the murder of one of their own. Mr. Ahern will recall the Dublin and Monaghan bombings and he is more familiar with them than I am. The 50th anniversary of the Belturbet bombing of 1972, a desperate atrocity, is coming up on 28 December. Thankfully, An Garda Síochána announced a new investigation into that case yesterday with some new lines of inquiry. Thankfully that is happening. Those families have always acted with grace and dignity in campaigning not for vengeance or for people to be locked up and put in cells but to at least get the truth on the desperate atrocity inflicted on their family members. On legacy, I am glad Mr. Ahern so strongly reiterated his belief in the Stormont House Agreement. That was the blueprint to achieve progress in difficult areas. Nobody will underestimate the difficulty in achieving progress on legacy issues but that was a good blueprint to which the political parties in Northern Ireland and the two Governments agreed.

On the business community, those of us who represent Border counties are familiar with trade between the North and the South. Thankfully, we have a huge all-Ireland economy on this island today, one that has grown without any flag-waving and without people being attached to their political ideologies. Businesses with the right environments have gone out and developed. Enterprises that were sited in this State have parts of their business in Northern Ireland and similarly Northern Ireland business have enterprises here. That has been wonderful from the point of view of increasing trade, generating revenue and, importantly, creating employment in Border regions where it is not easy to attract inward investment and people are dependent on indigenous industry. The business community is concerned about the ongoing issues with Brexit. It seems some people in the agricultural community do not to want to speak up on the political issues that are clouding the protocol issue. That is a concern.

What has been Mr. Ahern's interaction with different civic groups in Northern Ireland? What message is he getting from the business community on the protocol and on ironing out the difficulties? In fairness to every member of the Government here, including the Taoiseach, and the European Union, they have repeatedly stated that there are some issues that can be ironed out. The proposals the Commission published in October 2021 would reduce the necessity for inspections by more than 70%. That is a message that needs to be communicated loud and clear. I am often disappointed with how silent business is on these particular issues in Northern Ireland.

I have read transcripts of Mr. Ahern's contributions at committees in Westminster, particularly the committees of the House of Lords, and he has always got a warm welcome there. There is a good understanding, particularly among former secretaries of state or people who served as ministers in the Northern Ireland Office, such as Paul Murphy, Peter Hain and others, on the craziness of Brexit and how it will adversely impact on this island and their own country. We often want to pay tribute to the British Members of Parliament and Members of the House of Lords who have consistently been good allies of our country. During the previous Dáil, we had significant interaction between committees at Westminster and committees of this House. I attended many of those meetings with different committees in Westminster, be it Hilary Benn's Committee on the Future Relationship with the European Union or the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, which was chaired by Tom Tugendhat at the time. When they were making presentations here and when we were engaged in meetings with them, the British members were split 50:50. Some 50% of the membership would have been anti-Brexit and 50% would have been pro-Brexit. There is a sizeable community in Westminster politics who we should regard as friends of our country. Some of them have stood out over the years as being active in supporting different Irish issues.

People often say the Irish Government needs to do more on Irish-British relationships. More can always be done but we should never underestimate what is done through our diplomatic corps. Everyone in this room will have had an opportunity to engage with Adrian O'Neill and his colleagues when he was ambassador in London. They are always intensively putting the Irish case forward, which is a great credit to them. When former senior civil servants from the Department of Foreign Affairs made presentations to this committee they were laudatory of the political leadership of Mr. Ahern and Tony Blair and of the role of US President Clinton and George Mitchell. We also need to take into account the ongoing daily work at diplomatic level with people in Westminster. That does not take away from the current difficulties or the need to make progress.

I sincerely thank Mr. Ahern for his fantastic contribution to achieving the Good Friday Agreement and his obvious work in recent years on Brexit. He has met different groups, attended public meetings and has been accessible to groups form all political traditions, which is much valued. I recently read about the meeting Barry Andrews MEP convened in Brussels in which Mr. Ahern, along with MLAs from all political parties in Northern Ireland, participated. That type of dialogue is very important. It is by dialogue that we can resolve these issues.