Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I agree with Deputy Sargent that we should not practice megaphone diplomacy. Neither my colleagues nor I have done so for several weeks on any side. I will be careful and make brief points. I do not want to say anything for that reason about the DUP or the UUP. I will stay out of it and people will make their own decisions on the arguments. They will certainly not be influenced by me nor will their voters.

I am always ready to have Forum for Peace and Reconciliation meetings if I think it is meaningful to hold them. The significant issue will have to be picked up and addressed on the other side of the elections in summer or, as most parties suggest, in September due to the marching season. We have never made much progress during the season in good not to mind bad years. I agree with the point which has been made that negotiation must take place on the Good Friday Agreement. I will say nothing which opens up the prospect that we will proceed on any other basis. I cannot do otherwise and wish people would stop asking me to reconsider during the campaign.

The Good Friday Agreement is the agreement we are trying to implement. While there was a great deal of controversy about some aspects of it, we accepted the review and went out of our way to be helpful to the parties to it, especially the DUP. We thought that was the right thing to do tactically. To set off on a process which is outside the Good Friday Agreement is something I will not do. I see no other way of moving on.

The logical conclusion of moving away from the agreement is intergovernmentalism, which is something parties in the North, especially in the Unionist tradition, very much oppose. If one moves away from the Good Friday Agreement, the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach, whoever they are, take over and adopt an intergovernmental approach. As such an approach has traditionally been opposed, we must work with the Good Friday Agreement and establish how we can make progress. While I do not mind the heat of the election, I object for the reasons outlined to very prescriptive manifestos which have the potential to make life very difficult. In the context of tomorrow's publication of the DUP manifesto, I reiterate that the Irish Government cannot agree to and will not negotiate the exclusion of the d'Honte system. We will not entertain that proposal.

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