Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 5 to 14, inclusive, together.

I travelled to Derry on Saturday, 25 June, to participate at the official opening of the new peace bridge. Also in attendance at the bridge opening were the North's First Minister, Peter Robinson, and Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness; European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Johannes Hahn; the Lord Mayor of Derry, Maurice Devenney, as well as representatives of ILEX and the special EU programmes body.

The peace bridge in Derry is a modern and potent symbol of all that has been achieved in overcoming adversity and division and the potential of what can be achieved in the future. It is a hugely encouraging milestone to all those who are working to sustain peace and create a thriving economy in which to live. It also underlines in a tangible way what can be achieved when we all work together towards a vision of the future.

While in attendance at this event I took the opportunity to have informal discussions with the First Minister and Deputy First Minister on recent developments in Northern Ireland.

The events of last week were regrettable and serve to remind us that we can never afford to be complacent about peace in the North, a point I made in my speech at the opening of the peace bridge on Saturday. We must continue to work with communities to tackle the issues of sectarianism.

The Garda will, of course, continue to provide every assistance and co-operation to the PSNI in tackling criminality on both sides of the Border.

I have been receiving regular updates from officials in relation on the situation and will continue to be kept up to date. Reconciliation work with communities on the ground will continue to be supported by the Government through the reconciliation and anti-sectarianism fund which is administered by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

After the opening of the peace bridge I paid a visit to Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry where the Government is collaborating with our Northern colleagues to provide a new radiotherapy unit which will provide services to patients from Donegal.

I am personally committed to seeing further co-operation between North and South such as the Altnagelvin project and intend visiting Northern Ireland on a regular basis.

As I reported in the House last week, at the last plenary meeting of the North South Ministerial Council we approved a schedule of future North South Ministerial Council sectoral meetings which will take place before the end of this year.

See this speech in context