Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)

To return to the issue of exclusion, will the Taoiseach agree that, with the benefit of hindsight, it was a tactical mistake to allow the agenda for the talks which were abruptly terminated before Christmas to be set by the parties of the extreme? Moderate parties such as the SDLP, the UUP and others, which were the main architects of the Good Friday Agreement, were virtually excluded and sidelined. The DUP is on record as having pledged to wreck the Good Friday Agreement, and I do not know whether Sinn Féin signed it. Will the Taoiseach agree that in future negotiations a more central and meaningful role should be given to the parties of the centre which were the architects of the Good Friday Agreement?

See this speech in context