Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

Yes, Ireland is one of the two parties to the international agreement made at Weston Park. What does one do where an agreement is not being honoured by one party? I raised it directly with the Prime Minister on more than one occasion and, as I undertook to the Finucane family to do, I raised it directly with the most powerful political office in the world, the American President. Clearly, the United States has a particular link with Ireland and it was important that I would do that in the interests of the collective understanding of how important it is that international agreements are honoured. I also raised it with Senators Leahy, Brown and Schumer, Congressmen Richard Neal and Peter King and a number of others whom I met. I raised it publicly at the gala event before 800 people and spoke personally to Geraldine Finucane about it. It has been my duty and responsibility to raise it at the highest levels open to me, and I will continue to do that. I would like to think that we could return to the simplicity, if that is the right word, of the first position, that is, whatever the judge would recommend would be honoured, and start from that point. I hope we can get back to that point and have a public inquiry into the Pat Finucane case.

I will have to revert to the Deputy in respect of the current position with the response to Deputy Adams.

I did not raise the question of the convention because my intention is to meet with the representatives of the other parties in the House to set out the process by which that convention will take shape and get up and running. However, I discussed the diaspora issue with the people I mentioned earlier. In particular, I had meetings with the Senators about the situation of the undocumented Irish. I also raised that with Congressman Neal and other political personalities. The reason I did not consider it appropriate to raise the convention is that, while voting rights is a matter that will be considered by the convention, I thought it important to have the structure agreed by the Members of the House first. That required a number of meetings with the opposition parties, to take on board what they said and, if possible, to accommodate that and move on with that structure. I hope we will deal with that in the House in the next few weeks and that the first meeting of the convention can take place in September.

As Deputy McDonald will be aware from our meeting last week, it will be open to members of the diaspora at meetings wherever they are abroad to connect directly with the convention with their views. Long before Deputy McDonald was elected to the House, I and a former Tánaiste, former Deputy Dick Spring, worked on a report on voting rights for people in England and other places. It became very complicated with regard to how far back one should go and to whom one should give an entitlement. However, I look forward to the convention, when it is up and running, considering these matters directly with the diaspora. When we encourage people to return here for The Gathering and ask them to get their companies to invest directly in Ireland under the Succeed in Ireland initiative, there is clearly a yearning to be able to do something. What one does about it is the complication. I hope there will be a full engagement when the process starts.

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