Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil leis an Aire Stáit as teacht isteach chun an cheist seo a fhreagairt. We are looking beyond what we hope will be the very successful events of The Gathering in 2013 to the next series of events of the decade of commemorations that will register with the public and the international community in a positive way. However, the past two months of unrest in Belfast and across the North have been a depressing and a timely reminder of the need for the Irish and British Governments to continue to engage actively in developing the peace process. The problem in the North is a wider failure of politics. For the public, if normal democratic politics is not about the economy and improving people’s standards of life, it becomes about issues such as flags, parades and divisions. Accordingly, the commemorations ahead have the potential to stir up violent reactions. There is a need for constant engagement between the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Ms Theresa Villiers, and the Minister to ensure a positive outcome for this commemoration process, one to which we are strongly committed. It also requires cross-parliamentary engagement between North and South. Will the Minister assure us that this will be the sort of serious level of engagement we will see between now and the launch of the decade of commemorations?

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