Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

We all welcome the recent progress in the agreement reached between Sinn Féin and the DUP. One hopes this will bring about the devolution of policing and justice powers from London to Belfast, and that other outstanding matters will be addressed appropriately and soon.

We all want to see the Executive and the All-Ireland Ministerial Council functioning in full. Would the Taoiseach accept that responsibility for an all-Ireland consultative forum does not lie only with the Executive and the Assembly? Does he accept that this forum is one of a number of key outstanding and long overdue elements of the Good Friday Agreement, which is now over ten years in being? There is great concern that this integral part of the Agreement, as endorsed by the popular vote of the people, has not yet been progressed in any real and substantive way.

There are other elements. I acknowledge the Taoiseach's point with regard to the all-Ireland parliamentary forum. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for his recent correspondence in respect of that matter and I acknowledge the corresponding initiative being taken by his counterpart in the Assembly, Willie Hay MLA. Apart from the all-Ireland parliamentary forum there is the matter of the charter of rights. Will the Taoiseach accept there has been minimal movement towards the introduction of a charter of rights, and that this is also an issue that requires greater urgency and proactive address?

The Taoiseach made a point to Deputy Gilmore in respect of confidence building measures. I wonder whether the Government really appreciates the importance of the civic forum. Does the Taoiseach accept that what we are talking about here is, first, the imprimatur of the Good Friday Agreement? Such a forum has the endorsement not only of the Executive but of both the British and Irish Governments. It would help bring broad elements of civic society together across this island for the very first time. Does the Taoiseach realise this would be of special relevance to non-State organisations, NGOs, the voluntary and community sector, trade unions and others? There is a long list of organisations that would be keen to participate in such a forum.

Will the Taoiseach acknowledge that some of these organisations are organised on an all-Ireland basis already? Many are not, and it is of greatest concern that they are not currently exposed to cross-island engagement or interaction. The civic forum would offer such an opportunity. Does the Taoiseach agree that helping to break down these barriers and combating partitionism, in the sense of a thought process, would be patently in the interests of all opinion on the island of Ireland? I shall give a practical example where I believe that such an engagement would have a practical result. We are not talking here only of confidence building. I speak of the merry-go-round that currently exists with regard to cross-Border shopping. The Taoiseach's colleague, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Dermot Ahern, is as exposed to the reality of this as I am. On one day one sees the drove going in one direction and on another it comes the other way. There must be engagement and a realisation of the benefits for all that would come through, for instance, tax harmonisation and a common currency across the island. These critical debates must begin. The civic forum is just such an entity that would accommodate a real and substantive address of these very real problems that present on one side of the Border or another at different times. Will the Taoiseach confirm that every urgency will be employed in bringing forward, and to fruition, the establishment of the civic forum?

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