Sir John Major:

Straightforward questions are always the most difficult to answer because the answer is, to a certain extent, non-specific. The only thing that can be done is continually to argue, lobby and press for agreements that were promised to be honoured. One often had to go back again and again to get something determined that ought to be determined without frustration. Clearly, I think the Deputy is probably in that area. There is no silver bullet that can compel people to do it. It can only be done by persuasion, but the persuasion should be consistent. It is one of the many reasons I favoured the closest possible relationship between Dublin and London and why it is a good idea there are members of all of the political parties, in Westminster as well as in Dublin or Belfast, and they are all in a position to press. I have nothing better to offer than that. If the Deputy feels strongly about it and it was promised, then it is absolutely politically legitimate to press again and again, either for the promise to be honoured or, alternatively, for an explanation she will accept as to why circumstances have changed, and I am sure they have changed. I have sympathy with the Deputy’s view. I think she should just continue to press it.