Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I join Deputy Ó Caoláin in offering my sympathy to Martin McGuinness and the other members of his family on the death of their mother. I did so personally yesterday in any event.

I accept that Sinn Féin is committed to partnership. It is important that we get everyone around the table in a working relationship. It is correct that certain issues are long overdue for resolution and that partnership requires agreement. We will do anything we can to assist in that regard. Ultimately, however, people in the Northern Ireland Executive must work together. A solution cannot only be imposed from outside, it must also come from within.

In attempting to resolve the problem, there might be some benefit in trying to encourage people to work together in order to confirm that there is cross-community support for this issue. I accept that the conditions necessary to facilitate this happening are, for many people and in many respects, already in place. I am not arguing about that but we must encourage everyone to agree to the proposal. In some respects it is better to test the response from the other side by engaging to see if a way can be found through this on the basis of building confidence on a cross-community basis for this process, while confirming that there is no question of not moving ahead with a devolution process. If people can reach an accommodation in respect of this idea, progress can and should be made.

The detail of how this will work must be agreed, and there is some work and discussion to take place in that regard. It should be possible to arrange for this in parallel. People can say that the date when all of this should have happened has passed. It is a case of trying to find a via media, even in circumstances where people are inquiring as to what the discussion involves at this stage. It would be important that we establish the partnership necessary to make the entire Northern Ireland Executive work. The Executive has major potential in the context of working well for all the people across a range of issues. We have hit an impasse in respect of this important issue. I do not for a moment suggest this is not an important issue. This is a critical issue and is one in respect of which many steps have been taken. Sinn Féin has shown leadership on this question, and that is to be acknowledged.

Even allowing for the effort on Sinn Féin's part, there is a need to try to find a way forward rather than feeling we can go no further at this stage. The disagreement relating to this matter is affecting everything else and there are potential consequences which everyone should try to avoid. We will continue to work to see if there is a way round it. In the end, an agreement must be made face to face by the parties concerned with regard to how to move this forward. I regret we are in the position we are now in and I would rather we were not in it. Arguments can be put forward as to why this should be behind us at this stage, but, at the same time, we should be able to find some process that will provide us with the outcome required on the basis that it is a critical issue. There is no objection to that in principle; it is just a question of finding a narrative with which everyone can live as we proceed and get to that point. I do not believe it need be a point in time that is way out in the future.

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