Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I will return to what I said earlier because I think Deputy Ó Caoláin will accept that in reply to Deputy Kenny, I said the only important building block which is outstanding is the devolution of policing and justice. I hope we will be able to conclude that with Dr. Paisley and we will continue to work for that over the next two months or so.

What stands in the way of avoiding contact — the Deputy spoke of the IRA as a bulwark — between those who have engaged with and have stuck fully to the peace process and those from the dissident side is the absence of that policing. The way for us all to move forward is to try to ensure we get district policing and devolution of policing. I am fully committed to trying to do that. I have raised this with the British Prime Minister and Dr. Paisley and have discussed it with Deputy Ó Caoláin's colleagues. We will do everything we can to achieve that as soon as possible. It might drift for a few months but, hopefully, we will be able to make progress on it. The British Prime Minister has assured me it is also his agenda. We will not procrastinate on this issue and we will try to bring it to a conclusion.

I have tried not to get involved in the preconditions element of any of the negotiations because it is entirely unhelpful for those on either side to get involved in that. Ultimately, bringing successful, normal and sustainable policing to the areas along the Border will require the devolution of policing and justice, complete local acceptance of the PSNI and close co-operation between the PSNI and the Garda in Border areas. Over a period, that will isolate those who want to take a contrary view to what we all have tried to do collectively over a long period.

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