Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I refer to the Taoiseach's discussions with the British Prime Minister. He referred to a joint study on the economic relationship and on helping Northern Ireland to return to prosperity. Did the Taoiseach and the Prime Minister discuss a recent alarming and depressing report which indicated that one in every two children born and reared in west Belfast will experience poverty? There seems to be a sense that the dividend from the peace process has not reached vulnerable communities in Northern Ireland on both sides of the political divide. This is an issue of concern which should demand the attention of both Governments. It was a shocking statistic published in a recent report on the economic and employment situation and the general poverty in west Belfast and its results are very bleak for children born and reared in west Belfast. I await the Taoiseach's comments and I ask if the two Governments have any agenda to deal with this issue which is experienced by a number of communities across the North.

I refer to the issue of the promissory notes. The Taoiseach stated that he had a brief discussion with the Prime Minister about them. Did the Taoiseach attempt to enlist the support of the Prime Minister for a write-down or a restructuring of them? Did the Taoiseach seek his support for Ireland's position on this important issue? I remind the Taoiseach of the famous commitment of not another red cent to the banks and burning bondholders. That position was moved rather adroitly by the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, on the very day the bonds were to be paid when the issue became one of promissory notes. By the time of the Fine Gael Ard-Fheis, the issue was again dealt with in another manner or rather, the can has been kicked down the road and the matter has been postponed.

In his replies to the House on these issues for the past nine to 12 months, the Taoiseach has kept this issue at a technical level and this has been his stock reply. There has been no sense that a fundamental issue to do with the promissory notes has been dealt with at a senior political level between the Government and other Heads of Government. I ask the Taoiseach to outline the nature of his conversation with the British Prime Minister on that issue.

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