Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

As Deputies Kenny and Finian McGrath said, there is a sense of a drift in the Northern peace process. Can the Taoiseach reassure us that drift will not continue into the summer? Has the Government a contingency plan to involve all the parties which need to be involved to make a breakthrough over the summer months, or will we have to wait into the autumn for that and would such a delay replicate the long delay in this regard during the UK election campaign period?

Is it not time and does the Taoiseach not consider there is potential to reclaim the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement which was entered into by all parties in this House? Does he not consider there is a need to involve the Opposition parties more directly given that under the Constitution, the Good Friday Agreement belongs to all the people and that such involvement would represent an initiative which has not been tried since the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation was stood down?

When the Taoiseach spoke at the Institute for British-Irish Studies conference in UCD he mentioned the need for co-operation North and South to tackle the global challenges this island faces. In that context, is he saying we need the institutions to be up and running and can do nothing before that, is he saying there is potential for interim arrangements, whether on the basis of civic society or any other initiative he might like to mention, or is he saying we can do nothing until the institutions are up and running again?

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