Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 19 January 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement

Architects of the Good Friday Agreement (Resumed): Mr. Wally Kirwan, H.E. Dr. Eamonn McKee and Dr. Martin Mansergh

Ms Michelle Gildernew:

I was making the point that there is a generation of people who would probably love to read the Good Friday Agreement and perhaps we should think about sending a copy to their homes, in the same way we did 25 years ago. I have a question for Dr. McKee.

I took part in the Cross-Canada Irish Unity Roadshow in Canada this year with some of my colleagues. Senator Niall Ó Donnghaile was part of it as well, along with Ms Begley and John Finucane, MP. I was in Prince Edward Island, Halifax and Newfoundland. One of the issues I was lobbied on was the reinstatement of the direct link between Newfoundland and Dublin. My last part of the trip was in Newfoundland and I had to travel back via Toronto. If there is an opportunity to lobby for the very important air network and those linkages between the 33rd county and the rest of Ireland, that would be great.

Some of my colleagues alluded to the Good Friday Agreement as a living, working document, and spoke about what it could be to people who were not around - they were not born or were not in Ireland - during the 1990s. It is a question of how they see it as being relevant to their future in Ireland moving on. Go raibh maith agaibh. I appreciate the opportunity to contribute today.

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