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

Over the past three years there has been a growing and increasingly dangerous complacency about the situation in Northern Ireland. On the rare occasions that Northern issues are now addressed in the Dáil by the Taoiseach, we hear statements that everything is in hand and lots of meetings are taking place. We also hear Deputy Adams express his general support for a Government policy which has given his party a much freer hand.

I welcome this debate because it gives an opportunity to challenge this complacency. It is not just that sectarian tensions and dissident activities are giving rise to widespread concern but that, more fundamentally, the entire momentum of peace, reconciliation and development is being lost. The Good Friday Agreement was an undeniably historic breakthrough. Its anniversary was, unfortunately, allowed to pass unmarked last year because the Governments were concerned that they would have to acknowledge the central role of others. The agreement was a victory for the vast majority on this island who always believed in our shared interests and in constitutional methods. The generosity of the Irish people remains an inspiration in how they offered a hand to those who bombed and killed for decades without ever receiving public legitimacy. It was a great demonstration also of how much can be achieved through genuine political leadership.

The benefits of the agreement are real and have been sustained. However, it was never intended as a conclusion. In the words of Seamus Mallon, one of the great democratic heroes of the fight for peace, it was "a new dispensation". It gave this generation an opportunity to permanently overcome divisions and to work together for lasting prosperity and social progress. There was nothing inevitable about the success to date of the peace process and there is nothing inevitable about its longer-term course. While we hear various figures tell us how well they are getting on and how institutions are in place, let us not forget the objective of the process is not for politicians to get on and avoid constantly collapsing basic institutions. The goal is to deliver tangible action on behalf of people.

The undeniable reality is that today the majority of people in Northern Ireland say they do not have an increased influence on how they are governed and they believe that the Assembly is achieving little. Every survey confirms a growing detachment and disillusionment. One does not need to know much about history to know how dangerous this is or how it creates an atmosphere in which those who promote division find it easier to get listened to. In the South there has also been a collapse in levels of interest in Northern matters. In the media, the Oireachtas and among the wider public, the North increasingly only gets attention when things go wrong. When I first pointed out the dangers of this complacency and disengagement, I was roundly attacked by the Government, Sinn Féin, the DUP and some parts of the media. Since then even they have been forced to admit that all is not well. Last year we even saw the DUP and Sinn Féin attack each other in regard to why they are failing to use the Executive to deliver action on behalf of all.

Today we are facing the harsh reality that we have reached a defining moment. Sectarian tensions are important, but they are only one part of what is a rising challenge to the entire process of reconciliation and development. This challenge is faced within each of the three strands of the agreement.

The process is becoming ever more concentrated on the elites, who are distracted by their partisan concerns. This is leading to a marked increase in public disillusionment. The focus has been on managing rather than developing institutions. Opportunities to address shared problems are missed and in some areas we see a retreat from the policy of deeper co-operation. This has had an inevitable and growing negative impact on public attitudes. It is not only that we fail to take advantage of the many and obvious opportunities which peace and a shared blueprint have brought. The failure to take these opportunities, to build a deep understanding of other communities, to aggressively target development, and to work to bring the concerns of marginalised groups and areas onto a shared agenda pose long-term threats to what has been achieved. Over the past two years I delivered a series of speeches on both sides of the Border calling for action on the growing dysfunction of institutions that are ever more beholden to narrow party interests. In particular I have addressed the dangerous vacuum being created in Northern Ireland. This critique stands. Last summer once again we saw the two largest parties adopt a highly selective approach to the legitimacy of the system they are supposed to guarantee.

The only way to deal with the matters included in the Haass process is through inclusive talks. However, the refusal of the two governments to participate directly in the process, and their refusal to play any role in challenging the dysfunction of the Executive, gives the Haass process little hope of reaching a comprehensive conclusion. I strongly reject the idea, to which the Government signed up, that the Haass process is an internal Northern Ireland matter in which the Government should not be directly involved. The idea that a basis for challenging sectarianism and dealing with issues of the past has nothing to do with us is completely unacceptable. It is a rejection of the basic dynamic which delivered every major breakthrough of the past decade and a half.

As we saw this week, for the Unionist side the Republic is very much part of the historical narrative about communal divisions and the campaign of the provisional movement. During my time as Minister for Foreign Affairs I made substantive outreach to loyalist groups and communities an active part of our work. Showing the goodwill of Dublin and dispelling old myths had, no doubt, a very positive impact. Equally, we played a role in supporting communities which proudly give their allegiance to the tricolour. Everything to do with building lasting peace, reconciliation and growth on the island is a legitimate concern of the Government elected by Dáil Éireann, and to step back from this is absolutely wrong. It also removes the dynamic which has time and again proved it can deliver breakthroughs.

The Haass proposals are positive and should be accepted, though let no one forget they include quite a few areas being pushed into another review. That the parties are still meeting is welcome, but the time has long since come for the governments to assert their legitimate role in the process to seek significantly increased involvement. The last time this issue was surveyed the majority in Northern Ireland accepted that the Dublin Government has a legitimate interest in Northern Irish affairs. No one has pointed to a single example in which we have been anything other than constructive and progressive in our engagement. The Taoiseach appears to have a good personal relationship with the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron. We need this to be used for the practical benefit of getting him to reverse his policy of de factodisengagement with Northern Ireland, and this is the most important thing the Taoiseach could try to achieve.

The exclusion of the Republic from the new economic pact for Northern Ireland remains a disgrace, as does the Taoiseach's disinterest in it. Developed between Sinn Féin, the DUP and Whitehall, it has been presented as the definitive blueprint for the development of Northern Ireland's economy. The pact is welcome and includes many important commitments, but it also whitewashes out of the picture any North-South dimension whatsoever. Even though common development was a core part of the objectives and funding in the 2007 national development plan, and we maintained most of the proposals even through the toughest of times, the pact does not include a single mention of the Border region or cross-Border co-operation. There is no comparable example in the past 16 years in which no North-South or east-west discussions took place before such an announcement. This is another area where, for their own reasons, the Government and Sinn Féin have had no problem with the process, which increasingly proceeds without Dublin's proper involvement. This move away from the spirit and practice of enhanced co-operation is reflected in area after area and is having a wider influence.

One mistake we make is to wait for crises before considering Northern issues. We miss many opportunities to deliver for communities on either side of the Border. Failure to deliver the cross-Border bodies puts them in danger of being frozen and marginalised rather than being the evolving and dynamic entities we need them to be. Since 1998 the operation of the existing bodies has proved there is no slippery slope whereby communities will wake up and find themselves living in a different state without the consent of the majority. Cross-Border bodies are not about constitutional sleight of hand. They are about securing economic development and social progress for all communities on the island. The review of existing bodies has already been strung out over three years and no proposals to extend them are being discussed.

Decisions to abandon North-South infrastructural projects are the worst thing that could happen. We have gone from a situation in which communities asking for greater barriers to one in which they are asking for improved links, but in project after project the governments fail to take up the opportunity. The failure to fund the Narrow Water bridge is the most high-profile example, but there are many others. The bridge would have a uniformly positive economic and social impact, but it is being let fail for want of a relatively small amount of extra public funding. This is worse than a shame; it is a disgrace. What would we have given 30 years ago for all communities North and South to be united in calling for new links? Are we really so complacent that we think we do not need to embrace the spirit of joint development seen in this and other projects? The failure to prioritise the economic development of the Border region has to stop and the most effective way of doing this would be to establish a Border development zone.

The withdrawal of An Foras Teanga from direct funding of some language development projects in the North is not welcome. We need more direct engagement on the language, not less. I welcome the First Minister's defence of the right of the language to be seen as non-partisan. The obvious next step is for the DUP and Sinn Féin in the Executive to put aside their bickering and agree a language plan so that it is no longer the only administration in Europe failing to meet its obligations with regard to minority languages.

In opposition Fianna Fáil has never wavered in maintaining the same level of commitment to developing the peace process that we showed in government. The structures of the Agreement are fundamentally sound, but they were never meant to stand still. The absence of a more active approach to cross-Border bodies is a major deficiency at present. We have already outlined some areas where we believe such bodies should be developed and we will publish details of more. The Taoiseach has indicated his willingness to hold further debates on the North, and we would like a specific session to be set aside to discuss the development of cross-Border bodies and more general cross-Border co-operation.

An important point which is rarely mentioned is that supporting the minority communities on this side of the Border was a significant part of the early confidence-building measures undertaken when we were in government. We undertook investment to ensure the ability of Protestant and Presbyterian communities to protect their own identities. One element of this was investment in small Protestant schools in the Border region. National policy on providing extra teachers to enable small schools to be viable was significantly influenced by the disproportionate benefit which would flow to marginal communities. Everyone should realise that the Government's new agenda of targeting small schools for extra cuts is having a terrible impact on schools under Protestant patronage, particularly in Border communities, and many are being pushed to the edge of viability. There are many strong reasons to invest in small schools, but protecting religious diversity and marginal Border communities is a powerful one which the Taoiseach should stop ignoring.

There is no excuse for failing to implement existing clear-cut provisions of agreements. The failure of the British Government to proceed with the Finucane inquiry is unacceptable. We fulfilled our commitment by opening up An Garda Síochána to a rigorous and public inquiry. It was not comfortable, but we did it. It is long past time for the Government to make a formal complaint about the failure of the British Government to honour its commitment.

There are other areas where a selective approach to implementing agreements is undermining essential confidence. In 2007, it was agreed to review the working of the Civic Forum set out in section 56 of the agreement. To review the forum was reasonable; to leave it in suspension for seven years is inexcusable. It has once again demonstrated the eagerness of those who have taken hold of the reins of power to exclude any competitors. The First Minister and Deputy First Minister have actually said in public that they meet community groups all the time so there is no need to reconvene the forum. As we can see on the streets, it is exactly the groups who should be involved in the forum who are most likely to feel they are excluded from public discourse in the North.

I welcome the SDLP's initiative on this and their refusal to let the issue drop. For things to change in the North they require greater generosity and restraint. They require leaders to be willing to move the agenda on and to be consistent in respecting institutions which are trying to serve the whole community. They cannot say they support the police if they attack them every time they pick up one of theirs. Equally, they cannot be selective in their demands for transparency about the past. The families of the disappeared in particular need particular attention and full transparency in terms of what happened to all their loved ones. That transparency should be provided by those who are responsible, and the Sinn Féin-Provisional IRA community have particular responsibilities in that regard.

I have no doubt that there is a wide, growing gap between the bulk of the population of this island and leaders who act as if there is nothing more to be achieved. People understand the logic of peace and reconciliation and are largely getting on with it as far as they can. What is missing is a determination and focus from our leaders to take the process forward rather than allow it to be overtaken by forces led by neglect and a sense of disillusionment.

The great historical opportunity to build a lasting and constructive co-operation between all of the traditions who share this island still exists. Enormous progress has been achieved and is still in place. However, no one can realistically deny that a sense of drift is present. There has been disengagement and a reduction to formalities which has left serious problems intact and waiting to break out into new crises.

It is time to end the complacency and return to a position in which our Government again assumes the role of an active and interested partner in all elements of the still ongoing peace process.

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