Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the debate on this issue. I congratulate the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Gilmore, and indeed, Deputy McHugh, who I am sure was instrumental in us having the debate on the plenary session. It is, I understand, the first time that such a debate has taken place and it is important we recognise the valuable work this session has done and that the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly has done over a period of time.

As a former Member of Seanad Éireann, and having been briefly a member of the then British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Assembly and the honour of being its Vice Chairman, it was a pleasure to see the assembly meet in the Upper House. It is good to reflect on such an auspicious occasion. The plenary session marked the first time the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly met in the Seanad. It is good to see it becoming a small part of the history of the Upper House, a House that has produced so many political luminaries - our first President, Dubhghlas de hÍde, our first female President, Mary Robinson, and the late Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald.

This morning, while thinking about the significance of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly, another well known former Senator came to mind, William Butler Yeats. He was better known as a poet, but he served in the Senate of the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1928. It was Yeats who wrote the immortal lines:

Out of Ireland have we come,

Great hatred, little room,

Maimed us at the start.

I carry from my mother's womb

A fanatic heart.

Those words are appropriate to reflect on today. Thankfully, in our time, the great hatreds on this island and between these islands are mellowing and have, in fact, given way to a new and unprecedented era of co-operation between the Irish and British peoples.

Part of the reason for this magnificent and long overdue transformation has been the work of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly. In 1990, this body met for the first time under the co-chairmanship of Peter Temple-Morris MP and my late party colleague, the inimitable Jim Tunney. The then British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body held its inaugural meeting in a very different political climate. It was a time when fear and murder still stalked the streets of Northern Ireland and a time when great hatreds and mutual suspicion all too often characterised Anglo-Irish relations. So much has changed in a generation and the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly has played a significant part in building co-operation out of conflict and friendship among former foes. The perseverance and success of parliamentarians from each of the democratic assemblies on these islands has proven to be so fruitful.

This great and enduring work has underpinned peace when for generations people said it could not be done and that we would always have conflict between Ireland and Britain. In more modern times, this same spirit of co-operation will help our respective nations to get through and beyond the effects of the worst global recession since the era of the Wall Street Crash.

I commend the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly, especially its respective co-chairs, Deputy Joe McHugh and Rt. Hon. Laurence Robertson MP, for the valuable work been done in the plenary session and for their foresight in focusing on economic and trade matters which are so essential to our shared futures. I sincerely believe the solution to the economic crisis we are experiencing will be achieved through the wise use of trade and investment. The United Kingdom and Ireland have a mutually beneficial relationship in this regard. So much of the plenary session was about building on the solid foundations already there, and that is welcome.

I do not want to get caught up on a ream of meaningless figures and I will confine myself to citing two significant statistics which illustrate how our respective economies are helping each other in these difficult times. The UK accounts for 42% of total Irish exports, and Ireland is the fifth largest market for British businesses. What those two vital statistics say to me is that it is absolutely essential that we continue to develop our trading relationships, particularly in the context of the economic downturn. Working together we are stronger and as good neighbours we should not be afraid to pull together on matters of mutual economic benefit.

This fiscal crisis has been a crisis of globalisation. It has no respect for national borders and many nations, not only Ireland or Britain, are facing unprecedented economic pressures. A crisis of this size requires co-operation and shared approaches to restoring growth. In that regard, my party fully endorses the innovative and worthwhile proposal made at the plenary session by Mr. Sean O'Driscoll, CEO and chairman of Glen Dimplex, for an annual British Irish trade mission. I was pleased to learn that the annual trade mission proposal has received the backing of the assembly members and that Deputy McHugh and Rt. Hon. Laurence Robertson MP will now put this proposal before the respective Governments. Nothing but good can come from having an annual British-Irish trade mission, led by either the Taoiseach or the Prime Minister or Cabinet Members, and including business leaders, to explore trade opportunities between our two nations. In today's competitive global marketplace we must give ourselves every advantage and that is the value of this gathering.

For over two decades, the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly has been involved in pushing practical, wise and, at times, ingenious ideas to benefit the people who we all represent. Parliamentary work is often described by those outside as turgid, but in the past this assembly has shown it can make a hugely positive difference to the lives of people in Britain and Ireland and never was this more true than in its work to stop the senseless violence in Northern Ireland. The British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly provided so much of the building blocks that became the Good Friday Agreement, the St. Andrews Agreement and the Hillsborough Agreement from which lasting peace has flowed. It is not an understatement to say the work of this body has also been a triumph for constitutionalism and parliamentary democracy. Since its inception, the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly has brought together democratically elected politicians from across Ireland and the United Kingdom with a view to finding real and just solutions to the shared problems we faced through constructive dialogue and mutual respect, and never through the threat of force.

The success of those efforts was reflected in the capital city of this sovereign Republic exactly one year ago today. On that occasion, Queen Elizabeth II, as the British Head of State, laid a wreath in the Garden of Remembrance, which honours those who fought for Irish freedom down through the ages. This act was symbolic of the new maturity in British-Irish relations. The warmth with which this action was received also vindicated the vision and political courage of former Taoiseach Brian Cowen, who had extended the invitation to the Queen through Prime Minister Cameron in June 2010 and who had stated such a visit was now desirable as "part of the normal courtesies enjoyed by friendly, neighbouring states."

This visit has shown the British and Irish people that we should not ignore our history and our long interaction with each other. More importantly, whether we are proud to be Irish or English, Scottish or Welsh, British or from the Isle of Man, Jersey or Guernsey, we all can work constructively together for the common good of our respective nations.

I started by quoting Yeats and I want to conclude by quoting another individual prominent in the psyche of Irish history, the late US President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. In a famous speech at the American University in summer 1963, Kennedy appealed for an end to the Cold War. Now that the cold war between Britain and Ireland has finally been replaced by a new era of warmth and respect, there is something very apt about Kennedy's words:

let us ... direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved... For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal.

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