Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I very much welcome the Taoiseach's belief that progress is being and will be made. We all wish for that to be the case. It is perhaps not exceptional that there should be some expression of a level of irritation at the length of time the discussions are taking to reach a conclusion on something that was already agreed. Devolution was already agreed in the St. Andrews Agreement and we are a long way on from the original dates identified for having that in place.

I appreciate that the Taoiseach wants to be cautious in replying about the issues being discussed. From the press reports we have seen, it appears that the difficulty has moved on to the issue of parades and the substantial issue of policing and its devolution appears to be mostly agreed. The difficulties now surround the parades issue. If agreement is not reached — I sincerely hope it will be — will the proposals of the two governments encompass the issue of parades and what is to be done about that?

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