Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I will start at the end. Obviously I have been endeavouring to convince Dr. Paisley that there is only one way forward. The only plan is the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and the institutions created by it. That has been our consistent agenda. Deputy Ferris knows that successive Ministers for Justice, Equality and Law Reform have been involved in all peace talks since 1991. The current Minister is no different to any other. That is the way it will continue, whether or not people like that. I am sure that will continue into the distant future.

I read an interview given by the DUP in today's Belfast Newsletter and I do not note anything in it suggested by the Deputy. He claimed that in briefings to its party members, it has been boasting of dividing Irish nationalism. The DUP is only in that position if circumstances allow it and the Deputy should know what those circumstances are. The only thing that puts me on the back foot is when I must explain the unexplainable, which is difficult. When everyone from a nationalist background is following the rule of law and democracy I have no difficulty explaining things. If I have clear answers to the questions I have been asking for the last six months, I will be in a far better position and there will be no divisions within Irish nationalism.

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