Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree we need a debate on Northern Ireland and it is much to be regretted that the defining characteristic of Government policy over the past three years has been a hands-off policy.

There has been a lack of any co-ordinated development in regard to the Border region. The crystallisation of this was the failure to go ahead with the Narrow Water bridge project. I find it incomprehensible that the Taoiseach, along with the British Prime Minister and the Northern Ireland Executive, did not make this happen. The project had the support of communities on both sides of the Border. If that was ten or 20 years ago, we would have given our right arm to have that level of commitment from all sides and traditions. Apart from its socioeconomic value, which was proven in the value for money study, the project's importance in terms of bridging communities from different traditions would have been immense.

European funding had been allocated for the project, but there was a failure of political will to make it happen. Why was that and why did the Taoiseach not insist on knocking heads together to make it happen and ensure we availed of the European funding that was available? The failure to do so was huge in terms of the economy of the Border region and North-South relations.

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