Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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Unfortunately the president and vice-president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, AOH, are unable to attend due to their travel schedule. It is hoped that we can meet with them informally next week.

Before we go into private session, I wish to express my sympathy and that of the committee to the family, friends and colleagues in the Sinn Féin Party and in the Northern Ireland Assembly on the passing of the former deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness. We have heard much commentary over the past few days on the life of Mr. McGuinness and I am sure this will continue over the coming days and weeks. However, we can never forget the role Mr. McGuinness played in bringing peace to this island through his negotiation skills and willingness to partake in the very delicate and difficult process leading to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement and, indeed, his continued work since then to ensure its implementation. It is up to all of us, North and South, to ensure that the legacy of that good work continues. The best tribute any of us can pay to the people who played important roles in the peace process, as Martin McGuinness did in achieving the Good Friday Agreement, is to ensure that the institutions provided for in that Agreement are re-established and that the maximum potential of the Agreement is realised.

On behalf of the committee and my behalf, I also wish to express our sincerest condolences to the people of Britain following the heinous terrorist attack in London yesterday. Unfortunately, we live in a world where these attacks are now regular occurrences. However, we should not take them for granted and we must continue to work on an international basis to try to eradicate, to the greatest extent possible, the threats that exist to all nations. We particularly convey our condolences to the families of the four people killed and our sincere hopes and prayers for a speedy recovery for all those injured. An Irish person is among the injured. I propose that the committee should write to the British Ambassador to Ireland, Robin Barnett, expressing our abhorrence of this terrorist attack and conveying our sympathies to our colleagues in the British Parliament, a number of whom were here yesterday at a meeting of the Good Friday Agreement committee at which we discussed Brexit and outlined the difficulties we had and what we wanted to see arising from Brexit. We should convey to them our abhorrence of the attack at Westminster and ask them to convey that to the British people. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Apologies have been received from Deputies Seán Crowe and Darragh O'Brien and Senators Ivana Bacik and Gabrielle McFadden.