Mr. Séamas de Faoite:

In his contribution, Senator Blaney talked about the idea of people being able to work together. I am quite proud of the fact that in my electoral area we have been able to achieve that on a number of different issues. As I said in my opening statement, four political traditions are represented at council level in Lisnasharragh - SDLP, Green Party, Alliance Party and DUP. We disagree on many issues, not least constitutional questions. Even when it gets down to the pure economics of politics, we have very different outlooks but we have an ability to work the common ground on the places and things that we agree on for the benefit of our constituents.

Unlike previous occasions where people in elected office may have been cautious about making that kind of work public for fear perhaps of electoral recrimination or response, we have been honest in saying that we work together and we achieve results because of that. Whether that is on the impetus to try to get more dedicated cycling and walking infrastructure in our constituency, which we have all worked together on, whether it is on the regeneration of the Creggan Road area in Lisnasharragh, which had been a bustling shopping part of east Belfast, or whether it is on local policing issues and trying to support residents in respect of crime and anti-social behaviour, we have all been able to work together on those issues. That work has been recognised. Our incoming lord mayor, in her first speech in the role, made it clear that she wanted all of us to try to emulate that kind of partnership approach. I am quite proud of that and I would encourage others to try and take that approach. We can still disagree. We can still have political arguments and discussions where we disagree on issues and hold clear by our principles. Hume quite often talked about principled disagreement and the need for principled compromise rather than compromised principles.

Regarding the shared island unit, the only disappointment is that it came after the passing of former Senator, Maurice Hayes, who would have been very interested in the work of the unit. I recall his work in the National Forum on Europe on breaking down barriers and looking at ways to include as many people as possible in political debate.

I welcome the fact that the shared island unit means money on the ground. I note Senator McGahon is on the call here. Mr. Chris Hazzard MP from South Down would recognise the great move forward on Narrow Water Bridge and the welcome progress there - I look forward to seeing more progress on that particular project - and the announcement yesterday on research investment. The latter will make a big difference in south Belfast in the presence of the two main universities.

Finally, on the civic forum, part of the difficulty has been that a huge amount of our time and exertion has been put into keeping the Assembly alive, never mind any other bodies that might be associated with it. It has taken up a great deal of the political capital, in one instance, to get the political institutions back up and running after three years without government and, on other occasions, to try to keep them running when we have stuttered from crisis to crisis over the past 14 years. That is, I suppose, a partisan issue. I would be honest about that.

I would like to see a greater form of civic engagement. The SDLP has previously proposed successful motions in the Assembly calling for the civic forum to be re-established.

I share some of Ms Eastwood's concerns on clientelism.