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

All of us in this House hold the peace process dear. In particular since the conclusion of the Good Friday Agreement, there has been a genuine cross-party desire to maintain momentum towards peace and in particular, advancing political stability in Northern Ireland. I am sure the Taoiseach will agree that recent events have caused much concern. There is a genuine sense of drift in terms of both respect for institutions in Northern Ireland and for the ongoing momentum of the peace process itself and the institutions under the Good Friday Agreement.

The withdrawal of the leaders of Unionism from the talks process relating to the past, flags and parading is in many ways a sign of profound political failure. The fact that the decision of an independent statutory parades commission has caused the First Minister and others to leave the talks and begin a graduated response of protest raises a number of fundamental questions. The first is the manner in which parading is adjudicated within Northern Ireland. Are both governments now looking afresh at that even in the context of the Haass talks where the emerging momentum had been to move parading into the offices of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister to decide and arbitrate upon and away from an independent parades commission? The second question is the political recognition of the primacy of the rule of law, in other words, that leading politicians in Northern Ireland, irrespective of whether an adjudication comes from an independent institution or not, feel free on any whim to protest at that and remove themselves from a talks process or indeed from the North-South Ministerial Council last week. It does not just involve Unionist leaders. We saw this in terms of the PSNI and policing. When Deputy Adams was arrested, Sinn Féin said that its support for policing was now questionable or could be threatened if he was not released. That also happened on a previous occasion when somebody was arrested. This idea of the political recognition of the primacy of law is central to political stability in Northern Ireland and I ask the Taoiseach to comment on that.

I know the Taoiseach has had meetings with various parties. He has had talks with the British Prime Minister, David Cameron. Is it the view of the Government that the Taoiseach will become re-engaged in a hands-on way with the process in Northern Ireland, particularly in the context of the talks on the past, parading, flags and such like in order to inject fresh momentum into a process which has illustrated a dangerous sense of drift in recent years?

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