Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

While there is no question that the UVF was responsible for the recent attack on the Short Strand area, is the Taoiseach aware that the traffic is not all one-way, so to speak? Ongoing sectarian clashes are taking place in areas of the North with individuals and groups in both communities responsible for fomenting the trouble. Unfortunately, the individuals and groups in question are able to use mass unemployment and a sense of hopelessness among a cohort of youth who do not see much future for themselves against the economic background.

That is a breeding ground for the sectarian clashes. Will the Taoiseach now review the Good Friday Agreement, 13 years after it was reached? When I spoke on it in the Dáil I said it was an institutionalisation of sectarian division and, unfortunately, that has proved to be the case politically. The political parties in the Executive, for example, are still largely almost exclusively on one or other side of the sectarian divide.

Real action, rather than symbolism, is needed to address the crises and issues that are a breeding ground for sectarianism. Does the Taoiseach agree that the horrific cuts being planned by the British Government for health and other areas, including community areas, will further complicate and add difficulty to the situation and that they should be resisted?

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