Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 25, inclusive, together.

When the British Prime Minister and I met in Dublin in January, we made clear that 2006 will be a decisive year. Since then, there has been a round of meetings with the political parties in Northern Ireland, jointly chaired by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. I met with the Prime Minister again on 8 March in London to discuss the way forward and I will see him again at the European Council in Brussels later this week. I anticipate a further substantive meeting with him in the near future. Both Governments are working very closely together at the moment. We believe that it is important to have an agreed strategy to bring about the restoration of the devolved institutions and to assure the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. We have made it clear that if difficult decisions need to be taken, we will do so.

I met with representatives of Sinn Féin in Dublin on 1 March and with representatives of the SDLP the following day. Both meetings offered a timely opportunity to assess the current situation and how matters might move forward. We discussed the possibilities for moving the process forward and our common objective of securing the earliest possible restoration of the devolved institutions. I also had an opportunity to meet informally with some of the Northern political leaders in Washington last week.

On the occasion of the St. Patrick's Day celebrations, I fulfilled a number of engagements in San José, California and in Washington last week. I focused on three key themes, namely, the progress made in the peace process in the past year and our clear determination to resolve the outstanding issues this year, the plight of the undocumented Irish and the positive story of the success of modern Ireland. I spoke about what we believe is the Irish advantage, a theme which was also articulated by Ministers in many other engagements throughout the world during the St. Patrick's Day period. I addressed the Spirit of Ireland dinner in San José to celebrate 20 years of the sister-city relationship between San José and Dublin. I also attended a number of business-related meetings and engagements with Silicon Valley businesses, including with the CEO of Hewlett Packard at its headquarters in Palo Alto. In Washington, I attended the Speaker's lunch with President Bush and also had a number of meetings on Capitol Hill with key members of the Senate and House of Representatives. I also attended the American-Ireland Fund national gala.

On St. Patrick's Day, I presented President Bush with the traditional bowl of shamrock in the White House and then met with him in the Oval Office for discussions on Northern Ireland, immigration reform and a range of current international issues. I am particularly grateful for the continuing support of the President for the peace process. He made it very clear that the US will support the efforts of the two Governments as we seek to make definitive progress in the peace process this year.

The rioting in Dublin on the day of the Love Ulster parade was in no way representative of the views of the vast majority of the people here. I do not believe it will have any lasting impact on the peace process or on relations generally. The rioting was organised by a small group of agitators and has been rightly condemned on all sides.

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