Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Tánaiste for his best wishes. I thank him also for his response. I am pleased he will travel to meet with the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister tomorrow. I have been in contact, as have other Belfast representatives, with the Tánaiste's Department. I suggest he should try to carve out time tomorrow to meet with people in those communities. I appreciate the ongoing work. I also understand very much the many responsibilities which the Government has, not least on the economic front. However, as the Tánaiste says, the peace process cannot be taken for granted. What is needed is an ongoing, steady, almost invisible engagement by Ministers right across all sectors in the North.

We also need to explore some of the people who are behind these protests. The British National Party is engaged in whipping up these tensions and fears. The Ulster Volunteer Force is also heavily involved. Those attacks were premeditated over recent evenings. An issue which this Dáil has to address and which everyone who lives on this island has to address is sectarianism. It has to be tackled. I am from Belfast. These protesters do not represent the vast majority of people in Belfast. The vast majority of people in Belfast are living in a modern city which has many proud traditions and which they want to see shared on the basis of equality. That is the view; that is what we have come through in the past 40 years and that is what the vast majority of people have settled for. The Government needs to continue to underpin both in this State as well as in the Northern State, principles of equality, parity of esteem and mutual respect.

I am not lecturing but just making the point that this issue needs constant attention and must not be taken for granted. It is only by the grace of God that someone has not been killed. All representatives of civic society, the community and the political and business classes must stand shoulder to shoulder against what is a very small minority.

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