Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As I indicated in my reply, Dr. Haass and Dr. O'Sullivan were not invited by the Irish Government or the British Government but by the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister in Northern Ireland. As I pointed out, it was not a case of the governments being in charge of these discussions. This initiative was taken by the Executive, the First Minister and Deputy First Minster. I supported inviting Dr. Haass and Dr. O'Sullivan to Northern Ireland to see if they could break the logjam and provide new initiatives in respect of flags, parades and the past. Considerable progress was made in a number of areas of those three issues. The Deputy said this demonstrated bankruptcy on the part of the Irish and British Governments but this was a case where the governments were supportive of the initiative taken by the Executive in inviting Dr. Haass.

The Deputy spoke about the Executive and the Assembly. After very long deliberations and with the involvement of Senator George Mitchell as a central figure in brokering the Good Friday Agreement, the people of Northern Ireland have voted on a number occasions for the elected representatives to the Executive. The division of responsibility is then allocated on the d'Hondt system, as the Deputy will be aware. Nobody wants to go back to sectarian violence, which we all condemn unreservedly. I fully agree with the Deputy on that.

Under the special programme for European funding, three major proposals were withdrawn for a various reasons. The first was a €2 million allocation for the provision of facilities for museums, the second was the €20 million development at the former Maze Prison and the third was the €13 million for the Narrow Water Bridge across from the Cooley Peninsula. While those moneys were not allocated due to particular circumstances, we will have to look for alternative projects on which money can be spent.

In regard to the travels of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister in attempting to improve the reputation and integrity of the economy in Northern Ireland, we invited personnel from Northern Ireland to participate in the whole programme of the EU Presidency from January to June last year, so that colleagues in Northern Ireland would be fully acquainted with what was happening. When the First Minister and Deputy First Minister went to China, we put the vast connections of our then ambassador at their disposal to encourage them to make the best possible contacts with commercial and financial interests in China. The same happened in Tokyo.

At the cross-Border meetings, I am very happy with the level of co-operation and co-ordination between Ministers from here and from Northern Ireland on the different sectoral areas in which they work where there are implications for Northern Ireland, whether in finance, transport, education or jobs. We work very closely with our colleagues there.

I am completely opposed to sectarian strife but in these particular talks, the initiative was taken by the Executive to invite Dr. Haass and Dr. O'Sullivan over here.

Both governments, as co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement, were very happy to be supportive of the invitation, the talks and the progress that was made. We need to take it from there to see what further progress can be made. That is why I am glad to note that arrangements have been made for meetings among the parties over the coming weeks. Any assistance that we can give them from here and any assistance that can be made available from the British Government will certainly be supportive of the efforts the parties are making. I share the view expressed by Deputy Higgins that nobody wants to see a return to the ugly scenes of violence and the sectarian images we saw in the past.

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