Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)

I thank my party leader for tabling this important motion and obtaining cross-party support in the House. I am pleased to speak on the motion. As a young person, I do not remember the bad old days in Northern Ireland. However, I do not want to go back to the bad old days in Northern Ireland that my parents and some of my older colleagues remember. It is up to Sinn Féin and the IRA to ensure that we do not go back to the bad old days. I remember coming home from Mass on Good Friday 1998 and seeing the moving scenes on television of the Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, reaching an agreement in Northern Ireland. The referendum in May 1998 re-affirmed what the Irish people want. They and I want peace throughout this small island of Ireland.

I recall visiting other countries in my youth and people saying that southern Ireland and Northern Ireland were all the one. Southern Ireland is not part of Northern Ireland, but we want it to be one and to be at peace. I recall a number of years ago bringing the youths from my local GAA club on an exchange trip to Northern Ireland. Some of the parents did not allow their children to travel because we were going to Northern Ireland. I said they should not be afraid, that they should let us go. A number of them agreed and we really enjoyed that exchange trip. I would like to see more of this happening with people not being afraid to travel to Northern Ireland.

A number of Sinn Féin representatives who are interested in the real political process are unhappy with what is happening at present. This has gone beyond the realm of scoring political points. If Sinn Féin is interested in going forward, it will become part of the political process. Sinn Féin and its IRA friends have a motto — if we do not get our own way, we will take the gun out of the holster. I am involved in the democratic process, not in violence, criminality, racketeering, smuggling and robbery. Let us go forward with a successful peace process. We belong to a very important Ireland and I want to see a very happy Ireland in the future.

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