Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

First, I am pleased that Dr. Haas has widened his discussion beyond the political parties in Northern Ireland which are a party to the discussions and involved with civil society.

My understanding is that he does intend to have engagements with the South. He plans on coming to Dublin. I talked with him last week about this and we talked about some dates. He plans on coming, both to Dublin and to London. During those engagements, the Government will have discussions with him.

I have not yet decided whether to make a formal written submission to the process. There will be close engagement and we will be involved with that. Dr. Haas is engaged in the listening process as part of this. I intend to have a discussion with him when he is in Dublin, probably towards the end of October. Arising from that discussion, we will make a decision as to whether we should make a formal written submission or whether it would be more effective to engage with him by way of dialogue. That is something we will settle at a later point.

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