Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I thank the Taoiseach for the response. If there is foot-dragging in getting the civic body established formally, is there any way to build upon the existing North-South contact, dialogue and arrangements across a range of areas of life on the island? For example some sporting bodies like the IRFU and GAA are all-island bodies anyway and the same is true of churches. There seems to be increased contact in any event across a range of areas of life, including business, tourism and farming. Many organisations, North and South, have considerable contact with each other anyway. That seems to be growing, which is very welcome. Is there some way in which the growing contact between bodies, organisations and interests North and South, which is evolving anyway, can be built upon and supported? If there is a problem in establishing the civic forum as an institution, from the top down, might there be a way of encouraging, shaping and supporting it from the ground up? That would build on what is, in any event, developing organically.

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