Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Those who have been following the Northern Ireland situation would have been struck by the meeting which the Taoiseach had in the past couple of days with the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, and with the quite public manifestation at that meeting, or at least the public part of it, of the bad relationship, which seems to exist between the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister and which would appear to have been in existence for some time, and which, in turn, appears to be affecting the workings of the Executive in Northern Ireland. Is the Taoiseach concerned about the deterioration in that relationship? What work is being done to improve matters?

When, in October, I asked the Taoiseach about the devolution of policing, which is the central political issue that must be resolved, he expressed the hope that matters on the devolution of policing could be progressed fairly quickly. There still seems to be a serious stand-off over the devolution of policing. We all had expected around the time the financial package for Northern Ireland was announced by the British Prime Minister that the devolution of policing would follow quickly from it and there has been some surprise that has not happened. Can the Taoiseach tell the House what progress he expects will be made to ensure that the devolution of policing and justice matters is proceeded with reasonably quickly?

Is the Taoiseach concerned that if this does not get resolved reasonably quickly we will be in to the short run-down to the Westminster elections, which may have an impact on what is happening?

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