Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

I ask the Taoiseach to note my regret that he has withdrawn his proposal to allow Six Counties MPs to attend here in this institution and this year to participate in meetings of the Dáil, sitting as a committee of the entire House. The Taoiseach should use the opportunity to call on the leaders of the Fine Gael and Labour parties to withdraw their opposition to such a proposition, which would have ensured access for all Six Counties MPs to this new and very important opportunity. Does the Taoiseach agree that partitionism, plain and simple, is at the root of their respective opposition to the proposal? Recognising the ever-changing situation, the importance of imaginative initiatives being taken and his own previously stated commitment to the proposal he constructed and tabled, would the Taoiseach not now restore the proposal and put his plan into effect?

As a former member of the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body, I record my welcome for the DUP's attendance at the meeting of that body on Monday in County Kerry. Having previously declined to attend any of its meetings, in Britain, the Six Counties or this State, the fact that the DUP representatives have now travelled south — they could hardly have travelled further south than to Kerry — must be interpreted as a positive signal. In this context, did the Taoiseach note Peter Robinson's statement that his party wants to form part of a power-sharing government? Does the Taoiseach agree that there can only be a power-sharing executive with DUP participation if Sinn Féin is an integral component part? That is exactly what a power-sharing administration equates with in terms of the Northern configuration as it currently presents.

Does the Taoiseach agree that the apparently more conciliatory remarks of Mr. Robinson would be very helpfully repeated in address to his own community and his party's support base, which is where it needs to be heard most clearly? Does the Taoiseach agree that the best interests of not only the DUP but also the broader Unionist community in the Six Counties can be served best when the DUP fully takes on its responsibilities of the political leadership of Unionism today and fully engages with all other parties, including Sinn Féin, in addressing the important issues that affect the lives of the people they represent and of all people living in the Six Counties area and the echoes of that throughout Ireland?

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