Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I never cease to be amazed at the interviews the Taoiseach reads and the ones he never notices. What he has just said cannot be reconciled with what the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, said. Presumably the Taoiseach is not saying that powers for policing and justice can be transferred to Northern Ireland before the executive is reinstated. The Taoiseach said clearly after the meeting in Farmleigh that this had to be dealt with and he expected movement this summer.

He or his Minister for Foreign Affairs seem to be quite prepared to reward Sinn Féin for its stance on policing while a party such as the SDLP, that took the risk when it was neither popular nor profitable and went on to the policing boards and defended very unpopular decisions, is to be left out in the cold. It is an extraordinary interview. If the Taoiseach has not read it, which I do not believe, although I do not like to make accusations, he ought to read it. He cannot say he agrees with the Ministers for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and Foreign Affairs on the anti-criminality campaign because the Minister for Foreign Affairs makes it plain that he regards the utterances of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform as no more than politicking and electoralism in the context of the South.

Has the Government changed the consistent and settled expectation that there would be movement on this critical issue to facilitate the reinstatement of the executive? Is that no longer the position? Does the Government generally regard Deputy McDowell as being off on a frolic of his own in his various utterances about Sinn Féin? Is subscribing to policing in Northern Ireland and participation in the policing boards some requirement of the November deal? What message does that send out to the DUP? Is the Taoiseach saying he expects the DUP to participate in the reinstatement of the institutions in Northern Ireland although the Minister for Foreign Affairs has clearly signalled to Sinn Féin that it need not bother and can kick into "the middle distance" the question of allegiance to policing in Northern Ireland?

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