Niall Blaney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I also extend a warm welcome to Sir John Major. We are delighted to have him here today. The architects of the Good Friday Agreement giving evidence is a very important piece of work. While some may argue that Sir John was not an architect of the Good Friday Agreement, he certainly set the foundation stones along with Albert Reynolds and John Bruton. His presentation today was quite fulsome; the content is quite spectacular. Dealing with so many issues as the Prime Minister of a country can be a very onerous and tough task. It may be a measure of the individual he is that during his time in office he took the time to understand Northern Ireland issues, its people and the perspectives of both sides. In doing so he brokered a way forward through the Downing Street declaration. We are very thankful for all the work he did and all the effort he put into making it happen. As he said, the peace process probably would not have been achieved had he not put that effort in and we are very appreciative of it.

The committee has never really discussed collusion. Collusion had many parts in Northern Ireland and it is not something we need to go into today. I would also rather if it were parked. It was never mentioned before we met today.

Regarding Sir John's term in working up towards what became the Good Friday Agreement we are trying to gain an understanding of the complexities involved in getting an agreement in the work he did.

I suppose, for us, it is to try and find the lessons to be learned. As Sir John knows, the Good Friday Agreement has not been fully implemented. The North-South Institutions are not up and running. There are many issues that still remain unresolved not even to mention the complexities now with Brexit. The key question I ask Sir John is what lessons he learnt from his time in office that could be useful for the politicians of today in the future, in trying to engage and bring about recognition of each other and processes that allow sitting down around tables to get conclusions that look about all interests.