Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There has never been a breakthrough in Northern Ireland without the direct hands-on involvement of the two sovereign Governments. We note the huge contribution the SDLP has made to the progress that has been achieved over the years. That party's leader, Alasdair McDonnell, said in the British House of Commons this day last week that "the Secretary of State will recall that when the Haass process has been mentioned on previous occasions, I have urged a much greater involvement at an earlier stage by both the British and Irish Governments". The Tánaiste mentioned his participation in this process, including his meetings with the Secretary of State and the parties. He seems to have given some urgency to this issue when it was concluding. I would have thought that when the Northern Executive decided to set up a panel of five parties to address this issue, it would not have been opposed to the two sovereign Governments taking a hands-on approach to dealing with the difficult issues that need to be resolved, as everyone else has said.

We need to get away from the violence and thuggery we witnessed on the streets in Belfast and other urban centres in Northern Ireland in 2013.

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