Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

Níl gá ar bith dul ar aghaidh leis an leasú ag an bhomaite. Dá mbeadh cead agam, b'fhéidir go n-éireoinn as an mhéid atá le rá agam agus atá scríofa síos, mar tá sé an-deacair a bheith ag éisteacht lena bhfuil le rá ag go leor daoine anseo, ní amháin ó mhuintir Shinn Féin ach ón Teachta os mo chomhair chomh maith. I am delighted to see he is the last bastion of the socialist point of view in the House.

I welcome the opportunity to address the House this evening and to reiterate the Government's strong commitment to the Good Friday Agreement as the template for a peaceful democratic society in Northern Ireland and for political agreement on the island as a whole.

In 1998 the people of Ireland, North and South, voted by an overwhelming majority to support the Good Friday Agreement. In the first Thirty-two County act of self-determination since 1918, the Irish people gave the two Governments a strong, clear and unambiguous mandate for our ongoing work with the political parties to restore partnership Government to Northern Ireland. The Government's resolve to fulfil the people's mandate, to implement the Good Friday Agreement in full and to restore the institutions established under the Agreement has never wavered and will not waver now.

Devolved Government on an inclusive basis is clearly in the best interests of all communities in Northern Ireland. All political parties and politicians want to serve their communities and deliver for their communities. All Members of this House know this as fact. That is why we are here. Our democratic tradition, embodied and practised in this Chamber, is a strong one. We are elected to exercise responsibility on behalf of the communities we serve and we are directly accountable for the decisions we take. There is no substitute for democratic Government, linking communities with the decision-making process and those who represent their interests. We should not lose sight of the fact that our main objective is the consolidation of truly democratic institutions in Northern Ireland. That means the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. It means the restoration of partnership government with locally elected Ministers working in partnership for the benefit of all. This is the fundamental purpose of our ongoing efforts.

The Government's motion this evening underlines the simple fact that to rebuild the institutions of Government we must first rebuild confidence and momentum in the political process. When political parties North and South commended the Good Friday Agreement to the people of Ireland and when the Irish people overwhelmingly endorsed that Agreement they did so in the firm belief that it represented the definitive path to peace. We will not betray the people's trust or undermine their confidence by settling for anything less than full implementation of the Agreement.

The constitutional balance struck in the Agreement is a careful and sensitive one. It underlines the legitimacy of seeking a united Ireland. It also recognises, however, that it is the current wish of a majority of people in Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom. Most importantly, it clearly and unequivocally enshrines the principle of consent. Article 1 clearly states:

It is for the people of Ireland alone, by agreement between the two parts respectively and without external impediment, to exercise their right of self-determination on the basis of consent, freely and concurrently given, North and South, to bring about a united Ireland, accepting that this right must be achieved and exercised with and subject to the agreement and consent of a majority of the people of Northern Ireland.

The Agreement also puts in place a mechanism through which, when the time is right, support for a united Ireland can be measured and through which effect can be given to any resulting vote in favour of change. Many in this House, including the members of this party in Government, are firmly committed to creating a climate in which unity can be achieved, a unity of people as much as of territory. Indeed our programme for Government clearly commits us to securing "lasting peace in Ireland through the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement". It further states that the efforts to this end will be "without prejudice to the ultimate goal of achieving a united Ireland in peace and agreement".

That aim will not be realised through the rather simplistic formula of persuasion and preparation proposed in the motion tabled by Sinn Féin this evening. Neither will it be realised through bringing forward a Green Paper on Irish unity. These proposals simply ignore the urgent and primary need to restore trust and confidence in the political process itself and to re-establish the institutions of devolved Government in Northern Ireland. The Good Friday Agreement is the Government's clear mandate in this regard. We have no other. Any other approach to the question of unity would serve as a distraction from our immediate priority of restoring the institutions and would act as a damaging and destabilising influence on a process that can only thrive where there is trust and confidence.

I am glad to say that through the tenacity and perseverance of both Governments, in challenging circumstances, there have been significant developments in the past few months which represent a promising start towards the rehabilitation of that trust. The date on which the IRA leadership issued a statement formally announcing an end to its armed campaign, 28 July, was described by the Taoiseach as heralding a new era for all the people of the island of Ireland. He said he hoped it would mark the day when the tradition of using violence to advance political objectives in Ireland would finally come to an end. The unprecedented commitment by the IRA to end its armed campaign, to complete the process of decommissioning and to use exclusively peaceful means was welcomed here in Ireland and across the world. At that time, the Government said we would judge that statement based on actions. We said that independent verification would be vitally important to enable trust and confidence to be restored.

The confirmation on Monday, 26 September by the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning that the IRA had put all its weapons beyond use was acknowledged and welcomed in this House as a momentous development. We received a comprehensive and unambiguous statement from General de Chastelain and his team that "the totality of the IRA's arsenal" had been decommissioned. We also had a statement from two independent clergymen, who witnessed every stage of the process and confirmed that they were "certain, utterly certain, about the exactitude of this report". Many will still need some time to reflect on these developments. They will need assurance that the IRA is true to its commitment of 28 July to use exclusively peaceful means. They will want to check against delivery on decommissioning and on the ending of all IRA paramilitary and criminal activity. We should be clear that there must be an end to all IRA paramilitary and criminal activity.

The seventh report of the Independent Monitoring Commission was published on 19 October. While the IMC could only make a limited assessment at that stage of the effect of the IRA statement of 28 July, the Government welcomed its findings that the initial signs are encouraging. We now look forward to the IMC reporting more fully in its next report in January 2006. We hope that the report will allow us to move forward. However, it is clearly incumbent on all parties in Northern Ireland, including those represented in this House, to co-operate and engage constructively with the IMC.

Both Governments have consistently stated that there is no place for any illegally held weapons in the new society that is emerging in Northern Ireland. We need an end also to loyalist paramilitary activity and a start to the decommissioning of loyalist arms. In that context, let me echo the words of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, when he welcomed the announcement at the weekend that the LVF is to stand down. This move is an important and necessary step towards decommissioning by all loyalist paramilitary groups and we are hopeful that it can lead to further positive developments. We urge and encourage other loyalist paramilitary groups or organisations to build on this opportunity to bring a speedy end to all paramilitary activities.

In order for us to turn the potential of recent developments into real progress for the people of Northern Ireland we will need courageous political leadership from both communities. The Government motion explicitly condemns sectarian attacks on both communities. Political leaders cannot and should not show any toleration of the street violence, sectarian attacks and intimidation we have seen directed towards both communities in parts of Northern Ireland this summer.

Over the course of the past few weeks, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, has made frequent visits to Northern Ireland and met with community representatives and victims of sectarian violence. He assured them of the Government's commitment to challenging sectarianism at every opportunity. Sectarianism eats away at the fabric of society. It strangles the economy and inhibits investment, saps business confidence and costs jobs. It traps people in a cycle of poverty and hopelessness. If we are to see the new beginning for the people of Northern Ireland envisioned in the Good Friday Agreement, we need to tackle sectarianism, from any quarter, once and for all.

The full rigour of the law must be used by the authorities on both sides of the Border to counter the destructive agenda of those who engage in sectarianism and paramilitarism. At this juncture I commend the PSNI for its work in dealing with public order incidents during the marching season. I also call on Sinn Féin, in the interests of peace and political stability, to take their place in the governance of policing. No police force is perfect.

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