Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis na finnéithe. I thank our guests for the useful exchange we have had so far. Gabhaim buíochas le Wally Kirwan as an méid a dúirt sé faoi Bhéal Feirste. I am always amazed by the number of people I meet who can trace the trajectory of their marriage back to a céilí in the ard scoil. Mr. Kirwan is one of a number of proud people in that regard.

I work with Jim Gibney in my office who Mr. Kirwan will remember from the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation. He stressed the need for me to express my thanks to Mr. Kirwan for his advice to Sinn Féin through Rita O'Hare in the very early days and for his role in that. Mr. Gibney said Mr. Kirwan's advice was always wise and friendly. It was much appreciated.

This series of engagements has been a useful exercise, and it is right and proper that we reflect on and study the past and learn from it. It is also important that we do not engage in navel gazing. This is the Joint Committed on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and we all accept and acknowledge that important and fundamental issues within the agreement and its outworking remain outstanding. I wish to get all our contributors' views on the issue of the agreement as a living and evolving document in the here and now, conscious of the realpolitik at the moment. As we approach the 25th anniversary, it is right to commemorate and reflect, and remember the people who put in so much hard work while they were still with us. As we come to this anniversary, I am conscious of Martin McGuinness and others who are no longer with us and who did the heavy lifting. I am also conscious of the role of the Irish Government not only as a participant in the talks and negotiations around the agreement but as a co-guarantor of it. If our guests were in a position to do so, how would they advise the Government on implementation and ensuring that the continued fulfilment of the promise of the agreement is to the front and centre as we come to mark the quarter of a century anniversary?

I will turn to a subject I have asked all our contributors about. Dr. Mansergh reflected on the issues of Articles 2 and 3. I have said at a couple of these meetings that people sometimes think that Articles 2 and 3 were done away with as opposed to replaced. I am always interested in hearing views, particularly on Article 2 and the right of everyone born on the island to be a part of the Irish nation. How can the Irish Government give practical effect to that and stop it being merely something notional that has been written down in the agreement?

On the issue of policing, our guests are correct that it has been transformed but similar to the agreement as a whole, we still have some way to go. By no means is it perfect. I was involved in the engagement within my community on the policing structures and the PSNI in the North. The greatest strength was touched on by Dr. McKee, that is, the democratic oversight, which involves the injection of human rights obligations and compliance. That oversight runs from the high level of the policing board right down to the PCSP and community structures. That is the real lesson to be learned.

I have two more points before I pass to Deputy Conway-Walsh. We are all agreed that constitutional change needs to be something new. We have a fantastic opportunity to create change and something new. We agree that the work in that regard needs to begin and we need to engage on that issue across our society. That is true with the unionist community and is now increasingly true in respect of the new Irish, including people with disabilities, people from our LGBTQ community and our refugee population. It is about getting an idea of how our economic models and health systems will change, North and South. I hope they will change for the better. I also hope our housing system will change for the better. We must also consider Ireland's role on the international stage. I and my party fundamentally value our neutrality and see it as a great strength and asset on the international stage. We have to be careful. If the run-up to the Good Friday Agreement taught us anything, it is that we need to be cognisant of language and terminology. When Dr. Mansergh reflected on it, he spoke about the loyalist perspective. Twenty-five years ago, the Good Friday Agreement gave us an agreed and democratic pathway not to agitate but to advocate for and work towards unity. If we see that as aggressive or offensive, we are in danger of saying that the agreement is aggressive or offensive. I do not think it is, except to those who have always opposed it and who to this day do not support it.

I am conscious that there were a range of questions and points there and Deputy Conway-Walsh wishes to come in. I would like to hear responses to the issues of Article 2 and the Irish Government's role. There are obligations on the Government that remain unfulfilled. It is important, given the remit and role of this committee, to reflect on that at this important juncture for that living, breathing and evolving agreement.