Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I agree that when agreements are made they have to be kept. I also think it is important that the two Governments continue to work hand in hand and jointly with regard to the Northern Ireland peace process. I have a good working relationship with the Secretary of State. We talk regularly in the institutional format that I have described. There is a very good working relationship at official level. I believe it is very important that the two Governments, who are the joint guarantors of the agreements, should work together and I hope this will continue to be the case.

Deputy Adams referred to the issue of the OTRs which has been the subject of public discussion arising from the Downey case. There was an understanding at Weston Park that this would be a follow-on issue from the arrangements made as part of the Good Friday Agreement. To be fair, there was an attempt to legislate for it. The Deputy will be aware of the legislation that former Secretary of State, Peter Hain, brought forward in 2005 to 2006. Agreement was not reached with regard to that legislation, arising from which administrative arrangements were put in place to deal with the issue.

I am encouraged by what the Prime Minister, David Cameron, said when he was questioned about this. He said he does not wish to unpick difficult decisions made by the previous British Government as part of the peace process. It is important that there should be no unpicking of difficult decisions made and arrangements put in place. We need to build and to move on. The issue we need to address, in the post-St. Patrick's Day period, is the continuation of the Haass-O'Sullivan talks. It is not satisfactory to the Irish Government that this is an issue that is parked until after the elections in May because, as Deputy Adams observed, if we do so we will be in the marching season. One of the critical issues which is part of that discussion is how to deal with the contentious issue of parades. There is also the issue of the hurt from the legacy of the past for families and survivors which continues to emerge on a very regular basis and which must be addressed.

I discussed the situation with the Secretary of State as recently as yesterday. The approach of the Irish Government will be to try to get things back on track as quickly as possible after the St. Patrick's Day period.

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